Of the 50,000 people expected in Philly for the DNC convention are tens of thousands of protesters. Several groups have announced plans to protest, including a network of some 30,000 Bernie Sanders supporters.
The City has designation six zones in FDR Park, across the street from the Wells Fargo Center, where protesters can obtain permits to demonstrate. Other protests will take place at Thomas Paine Plaza near the Convention Center. Though permits are required to stage protests, city officials have said there will not be any “crackdown” on protesters who do not obtain permits. But city officials have been adamant that demonstrations will not be permitted in Center City during the morning and evening rush hours.
As a way to avoid mass arrest, the City Council recently passed legislation enabling police to issue $100 civil fines instead of making criminal arrests for nuisance crimes such as disorderly conduct or blocking a street.
Beside the Sanders supporters, approved demonstrations also include Sunday marches by Global Zero, which advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons, and Food and Water Watch, a consumer rights organization. Other groups say they will proceed with their demonstrations, with or without permits. They include the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and another group dubbed “Shut Down the DNC.” The later group includes the MOVE Organization, a Philly Black liberation group that had several major conflicts with the Philadelphia Police Department in the 70’s and 80’s.
The mostly independent organizers behind the Sanders’ protesters evolved from the Democracy Spring protests, an eight-day “direct action” on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. More than 1,400 people were arrested, but not before nearly 100 members of Congress called for hearings on the campaign finance reform and voting rights measures lobbied for by protesters.
Last month potential protestors met at a Chicago Summit where they participated in workshops and lection on “Direct Action 101” that prepared them on how to act if confronted by police.
Kim Huynh, who helped lead the workshop, told CNN she views the convention as “the next step” in the Sanders movement, a means for harnessing and “pushing forward all of this energy around the Bernie campaign.”
