This August during the Death and Nakba Coronation, Brandon Johnson’s thugs in the Chicago Police Department arrested 76 people for protesting the genocide convention. The vast majority of those arrests took place on August 20th, when the CPD staged a police riot in defense of genocide during a protest called by Behind Enemy Lines. That police riot, personally supervised by chief pig Larry Snelling ended in 59 arrests, including 4 journalists. 

Immediately following those arrests, Behind Enemy Lines took up a campaign to demand that those illegitimate charges be dropped, holding rallies and protests, disrupting a Brandon Johnson speech, organizing a people’s tribunal to expose the repression of protest, and logging countless hours inside the courtroom, to monitor the proceedings and support everyone going through the byzantine legal process. More than 4 months after the DNC, here is the current status of these cases: 

– Nearly half of the DNC arrests were dismissed, because city and state prosecutors couldn’t produce the arresting officers, despite being given 2, and sometimes 3 opportunities to do so! The fact that the CPD can’t be bothered to show in court shows how unserious these charges were to begin with. 

– A number of other cases have been resolved by plea deals. These plea deals have involved some small fines or a few hours of community service. The majority of plea deals have resulted in deferred prosecution or people pleading liable to a city ordinance violation in exchange for paying no fine and doing no community service. This clearly proves that the charges are based on no evidence. That so many arrests are resulting in pleas with no fine or community service again reveals the fundamental baselessness of these cases. 

– There is a group of defendants, who are refusing to make any deals with the city and prosecutors, because it’s right to rebel against genocide! 

Protesters who confronted the DNC, especially those who actually set their sights on shutting it down, were filling a moral and political obligation to stand with the people of the world in the face of the unimaginable horrors perpetrated by the US-Israel war machine. Arresting dozens of people, especially the most serious about resistance, was an attempt by Brandon Johnson and Larry Snelling not just to shut down protest on 8/20 but to quell any opposition to the genocide that dares to step outside of official channels. In refusing to take any plea deals we are refusing to allow that repression to stand. 

While we respect the right of individuals to make their own legal decisions, it’s critical to understand that plea deals, even favorable ones, are a key piece of the mass-arrest playbook. Police repression of protest often relies on never having to justify itself legally and before the public. It can be defeated through a combination of exposure and political and legal struggle. But that will require some people standing up and taking some risks to force prosecutors to actually put on a trial and justify mass arrests and crackdowns on protest. In the case of the DNC the risks for most people of being found guilty are relatively minor (larger fines, more hours of community service, some period of supervision) which is all the more reason to take them to trial. We are refusing deals and insisting our right to trial because we believe that we are both politically and legally in the right and want to defeat these ridiculous charges in the streets and in court. We also hope that our stand inspires others to join us in building a culture of resistance! 

At any time, Cook County and the City of Chicago could have put a stop to these farcical political prosecutions, by simply dropping the charges. Instead, they have dragged dozens of people through the legal process, where most defendants are expected to come to court for various procedural matters on a near monthly basis before even approaching the trial stage. City prosecutors, especially Marianna Kiselev, who work directly for Brandon Johnson have been the most adamant about pursuing cases against DNC arestees and other people arrested for protesting. Those arrested have, essentially, been punished multiple times: first arrested (often brutally), than held completely unnecessarily overnight, and than repeatedly having to show up for court, all before even getting to the stage of a trial or a plea. 

The police brutality and unjust arrest of anti-genocide protesters, the byzantine bureaucracy of the legal system, the comical inflexibility of the prosecutors, all follow the months of harassment and surveillance of Behind Enemy Lines that proceeded the DNC, and the massive show of force and unjust arrested during the DNC itself all point to one conclusion: the city of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, and Larry Snelling, are fall-in-line loyal servants of imperialism. They are happy to trample people’s rights when they protest in ways that are potentially embarrassing, or threaten to step out of line. It’s right to rebel against genocide. It was right to militantly oppose the death and nakba coronation, and it’s right to expose and resist the political repression including by taking these cases to trial. 

We expect that most of the cases will go trial in March, meaning that defendants will have waited 7 months for their day in court. We will be providing updates as the trial dates approach, but anyone who believes in free expression and opposes the Gaza genocide should find some way to support these defendants: 

– Follow the cases, share this statement, sign our open letter, call the City of Chicago and Cook County State’s Attorney and demand the cases be dropped!

– Join us to pack the courts for every DNC case, for rallies and protests outside the courtroom, and other events exposing political repression!

– Contribute funds! The judge in these cases has ordered that out of town defendants appear in person in Chicago for their trial dates. BEL is committed to supporting all of those defendants with travel, housing, food etc. Hit up our Venmo or GiveButter to join us. 

– Expose and resist every instance of crackdown and repression on protest! Fight back against the terror-tagging of Samidoun, the campus censorship, and support political prisoners like the Holy Land 5 and Casey Goonan!