Who is marching outside the DNC? A look at the coalition behind the protests

WASHINGTON (TND) — As the Democratic Party comes together inside the United Center in Chicago, outside thousands are filling the streets to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the current administration's handling of it.

An investigation by the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank, found nearly 300 groups make up this coalition marching on the DNC.

Of those, more than 150 are classified as “extremist groups" by the CRC, which under their categorization means the groups either support terrorist organizations and/or identify as Marxist, communist or anarchists.

According to the CRC, many of these have ties to Hamas or publicly support Hamas and the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

"One of the leading organizations is the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and they are openly pro-Hamas. They’ve actually been under counter-terrorism investigation by the FBI back in 2010," explained Ryan Mauro, an investigative researcher at CRC.

Mauro also points out some of these groups are tied to foreign governments that are enemies of the United States. These include Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

The funding behind many of the organizations in the coalition is murky. Some receive donations in the millions yet it's hard to track where that money came from.

"Tracing the actual funding is very difficult, because there’s various arrangements through which these groups fundraise and you’re able to hide those funds," said Mauro.

We reached out to the coalition to March on the DNC, the organizing body of the demonstrations in Chicago, and did not hear back in time for this report.

The coalition described the Chicago demonstrations as “family friendly.” As of Tuesday, they’ve remained mostly peaceful.

The Biden administration's Director of National Intelligence said last month they’re closely monitoring actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online seeking to encourage protests.