At least five people were detained by Chicago Police after sections of security fencing were removed along the northern security perimeter near the United Center Monday evening, just hours before the Democratic National Convention was set to kick off in earnest Monday evening.
Witnesses told NBC 5 Investigates that a group of demonstrators who gathered at Park 578 were involved.
The park was previously designated to be part of protesters' marching route but was quickly overtaken by Chicago police wearing riot gear in the hour or so that followed the breach at the fence.
Chicago police cleared demonstrators from the park shortly before 5:30 p.m. while donning riot gear displaying their batons.
A Chicago Police spokesman said he believed at least five people were detained but did not know their identities or potential charges.
Police Supt. Larry Snelling later told reporters the group appeared to be a separate group from the thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who marched from Union Park along a route that passed by Park 578, which sits roughly two blocks north of the United Center.
"No one is going to come to Chicago and destroy this city," Snelling told reporters Monday evening, adding that he "couldn’t be prouder of how CPD responded."
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Earlier in the day, Snelling had praised both the efforts of his officers and protesters, saying the group that marched along South Michigan Avenue Sunday was cooperative.
The incident Monday evening did not appear to disrupt the activities planned inside the United Center but came amid a week of planned protests from demonstrators who largely disagree with the Biden-Harris administration's support of Israel, which has been engaged in a violent bloody conflict with Palestinians for several months.
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After the incident, the DNC Joint Information Center issued a statement noting what happened.
"Demonstrators breached a portion of anti-scale fencing along the Democratic National Convention’s outer perimeter near the United Center on Aug. 19," a DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center spokesperson said in a statement. "Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation. At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees."
"The National Special Security Event plan employs a multi-layered approach," the statement continued. "Each NSSE plan is unique and includes multiple layers. One of these redundancies include the outer perimeter fence, which was erected to prevent entry into the inner perimeter."
