Chicago preps as Democrats descend for convention

Protective fencing is up, street closures are beginning and local and federal law enforcement officials say Chicago is prepared as Democrats begin to descend on the city for the party’s convention.

Protective fencing is up, street closures are beginning and local and federal law enforcement officials say Chicago is prepared as Democrats begin to descend on the city for the party’s convention. The convention is kicking off just five weeks after the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — a moment that raised concerns about the security at Democrats’ gathering in Chicago as well as Republicans’ convention in Milwaukee last month. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Thursday on CNN that the attempted assassination “did heighten our awareness here” as law enforcement planned for “any possibility.” “Comparing Butler to a national special security event — you can’t compare it,” Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Derek Mayer told reporters this week. “This is a whole of government approach — we’ve been planning for this convention for well over a year.” Also looming as Chicago prepared for the convention has been the memory of 1968, when violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters erupted amid protests over the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam war. Snelling said Chicago police have “taken corrective action on those past mistakes” — including efforts to prevent a repeat of 1968 in 2012, when Chicago hosted heads of government at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.