Gov. Pritzker: ‘There may be some bad apples’ protesting DNC
CHICAGO - Ready or not, people are starting to arrive for next week's Democratic National Convention, with official events starting Saturday.
It's a big moment and calls have gone out on social media calling on protesters to show up and "shut down" the DNC.
"Bodies outside of unjust laws," a group promoting abortion rights, put out a post saying "F the GNC." The "g" stands for genocidal. Another post said, "Let's crash the party," with a list of demonstrations and rallies in Union Park.
Chicago's top cop Larry Snelling has been training officers for a year for this event and has repeatedly said that his force is "ready" to allow protesters to exercise their rights while keeping the peace.
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Governor JB Pritzker said he has faith in the plan.
"There may be some bad apples. Usually, they'll come from out of town to do it," Pritzker said. "There's been a lot of planning... every four years at a Democratic and Republican convention there are protests....We are going to protect their rights, but we're going to protect the people that live here and the delegates that are coming to visit."
In a one-on-one interview, Gov. Pritzker reflected on the efforts it took to bring the DNC to Chicago.
He said the city was initially in feverish competition with Atlanta, New York and Houston, but a little bit of that Chicago bravado put the city's bid over the top.
"Every time I saw President Biden, I literally would shake his hand and the first thing I would say was, 'We're going to have the convention in Chicago, right?’ You gotta keep working," Pritzker said. "Another reason is we show off the values of the Democratic party, freedom to choose, right to read a book you want to read."