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Some protest groups are predicting 100,000 demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention next week. File that one under the «I’ll believe it when I see it» category. The city and law enforcement authorities are keeping mum about their predictions of crowd size for the demonstrations but the more rational protest organizers are saying between 30,000 to 40,000 people are expected to march.
That’s still an awfully large number for the Chicago Police Department to handle when you consider the immense area they’re going to have to protect.
Chicago business owners at «Ground Zero» of the protests — the West Loop and the area around Union Park — are taking no chances. Some of them are old hands at these protests; the NATO protests of 2012, the George Floyd riots in 2020, and some businesses were around for the the 1996 Democratic convention.
What they know is that the cops are not going to protect their businesses.
Scott Shapiro of Syd Jerome Menswear says his storefront has been damaged during demonstrations on four different occasions and this time, he’s taking no chances.
“We know from past experiences something could ensue so we want to be proactive and get ahead of it,” he said.
Chicago Board Up Services is doing land-office business this week helping business owners take the necessary precautions.
