Protests and Chaos at the Democratic National Convention: Findings

Over 150 Extremist Groups Supporting Protests and Chaos at the Democratic National Convention (full series)
Findings | Leadership of the Anti-DNC Protests
Plots to Disrupt the DNC Convention
Appendix

A Capital Research Center investigation has discovered that over 150 extremist groups—defined as groups that support terrorism and/or identify as Marxist, communist, or anarchist—are planning on protesting the Democratic National Convention (DNC), with some vowing to forcefully disrupt it or shut it down.

The investigation reviewed:

• At least 279 groups that are a part of the Coalition to March on the DNC in Chicago on August 19–22,
• A separate coalition that is publicly planning disruptions at the convention; several Chicago-based Islamic groups that are involved in the efforts but are not officially enlisted in any coalition, and
• Groups that participated in the overlapping Coalition to March on the RNC (Republican National Convention) in Milwaukee on July 15–18.

Findings

The eight key findings are as follows:

1. Of the 229 groups involved in the anti-DNC efforts, 162 (71 percent) qualify as extremist groups based on our criteria.
2. At least 147 of the anti-DNC groups have expressed support for, or have ties to, terrorist groups or terrorist attacks. All but a handful of those 147 groups have ties to or publicly support Hamas and/or the terrorist attacks on Israel it committed on October 7, 2023.
3. The Hamas-allied and Iran-backed Marxist-Leninist terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has strong and direct links to a coalition that is openly planning to replicate the violent 1968 Democratic convention riots.
4. The majority of the identified extremist groups are linked to or have expressed solidarity with at least one of nine foreign governments hostile to the United States including Iran, China, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Pakistan, and Nicaragua.
5. The extremist groups have ties to or have expressed support for 19 foreign terrorist organizations: Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement), Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, PFLP, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, Lion’s Den, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Muslim Brotherhood, Jammat-e-Islami, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Marxist terrorists in Puerto Rico, Islamist terrorists in Sudan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.
6. The Coalition to March on the DNC’s official statements and website content explicitly support Hamas and the atrocities it committed on October 7, 2023. A group’s official involvement in the coalition is a very strong indication that it is a supporter of terrorism.
7. A large portion of the extremist groups have engaged in, endorsed, or attempted to assist acts of violence, property destruction and economic sabotage on U.S. soil that could be justifiably described as acts of terrorism.
8. Our monitoring of mainstream media coverage of the protests found an almost universal failure to inform readers about the pro-terrorism stances of the groups and activists mentioned and quoted in news articles and on-air segments.

Capital Research Center will provide further information regarding the designated entities upon request.

Defining Extremist

In this investigation, designating a group as “extremist” requires:

• Documented ties to or publicly expressed support for terrorism or terrorist groups
• Ties to or publicly expressed solidarity with hostile foreign governments, and/or
• Support for anarchism, Marxism, or communism.

The threshold for the extremist designation is so strict that designation is not based on a group’s desire to abolish the U.S., Canada and Israel; demonizing the U.S. and the West in the worst ways, or even a group’s calls for overthrowing the government and the ruling system without justifying violence toward that end.

Yet the decision to exclude a group from our list of designated extremist groups should not be misinterpreted as exoneration. All it means is that we did not find sufficient proof that the group fulfilled the above criteria within our limited timeframe.

In the next installment, about 30,000 anti-DNC protestors are to protest at the Democratic Party Convention.