Chicago and the NATO Summit

Protesters are marching but are being stopped by police from entering certain streets.

wandeljw wrote:

Protesters are marching but are being stopped by police from entering certain streets.

that is such bullshit

this is the kind of thing that makes me default to an OSd way of thinking - who owns the streets and employs the police?

Police, protesters clash in Loop
(By Matthew Walberg, Lolly Bowean, Jeff Coen, David Heinzmann and Annie Sweeney, The Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2012)

Chicago Police and NATO protesters clashed repeatedly in a series of pushing and shoving confrontations Saturday night in the Loop following a day of cat-and-mouse marches that tested the physical and mental stamina of both sides.

After a night of marching, chanting and testing the patience of Chicago police in the Loop, the last remnants of anti-NATO protesters slipped away into the night.

There were repeated scrums with police whenever the front of the roughly 1,000-strong crowd tried to push past police, who kept them circling in the general vicinity of the Loop for hours. Some of the clashes resulted in arrests and detentions, but Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said there were only about half a dozen arrests.

The crowd remained largely peaceful and there were no reports of major damage. Police likewise accomplished a goal of keeping protesters south of the Chicago River downtown and away from the glizty Michigan Avenue retail district, where many NATO dignitaries are staying.

The last big group of protesters headed into Greektown late tonight, but eventually lost gas as police relaxed their presence accordingly. Police detained several protesters but allowed the march to continue as night fell and the crowd -- as few as 300 strong earlier in the day -- swelled to many times that.

At one point, marchers were moving en masse north on Michigan Avenue, toward a line of police at the North Michigan Avenue Bridge. But the protesters were diverted west, back toward the Loop, where they continued to march after 9:30 p.m. Most demonstrators had dispersed by 11 p.m.

Asked how he was holding up, one protester answered simply: "Exhausted."

"I'm pretty impressed with what we did, but I'm not looking forward to waking up and doing it again tomorrow," said the man, who gave his name only as Curran and said he was from Boston. "But when I wake up tomorrow I think I'll feel differently."

Moments later, he and dozens of other protesters boarded a northbound train as several police officers watched from the platform, making sure the train left without incident.

The days of protests are leading up what is supposed to be the biggest rally of the NATO summit, Sunday at Grant Park on the first day of the meeting for world leaders. The anti-war rally is to include a march south on Michigan Avenue to the McCormick Place convention center where the NATO meetings are being held.

Earlier in the day, the first big confrontation of the summit week flared at Washington and State Streets when protesters tried to push through a line of police on bicycles. An officer went down, police in heavy garb and riot helmets moved in and several protesters were detained.

Later, a female protester tried to take a police officer's bike. When a police officer grabbed her, other protesters came to try to free her. As the crowd surged toward the officers, at least one officer took out a baton and struck a protester. Another officer pushed a protester to the ground.

Confrontations continued every time protesters tried to turn in a different direction from the way police were trying to channel them. Eventually, the march returned to Michigan Avenue for a least the second time today, and police succeeded in herding the crowd into a small park at Michigan and Congress.

The protesters were soon surrounded by police on horseback and others on foot dressed in riot helmets and carrying batons.

From Mayor Rahm Emanuel's North Side neighborhood to the streets of the Loop, a long blue line of police on bikes and on foot guided, herded and diverted a near continuous series of marches all day Saturday.

Using methods they've practiced on the streets since a May Day protest and at smaller marches all week, police shifted and rolled with the marchers. Officers on foot lined the sidewalks while dozens of cops on bicycles fanned out. Some of the cycling officers rolled alongside the protesters while others darted out in front to form wheel-to-wheel barricades at intersections.

Never far away was the real muscle of the police force, officers with batons in black garb and white vans of officers in riot gear who maneuvered to hot spots to provide backup. The more heavily clad officers remained in the background for the most part, emerging only when situations got tense.

After a series of close-quarter maneuvers aimed at slowing or turning the largest march of the day, police and protesters had the most serious confrontation of the weekend in the middle of the Loop. Several protesters were detained after a police officer was knocked over and heavily clad officers moved in to assist the bike patrol that had guided the march for hours.

Protesters got a similar full treatment earlier Saturday when they tried to repeat Friday's maneuver of crossing the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which resulted in a scrum with police in the middle of the bridge.

As a few hundred protesters approached the bridge Saturday from Wacker Drive, police were waiting in three-deep wedge of police bikes. Protesters paused only briefly before turning south on Michigan and avoiding a confrontation. It was clear that police had put a premium on keeping marchers off the Magnificent Mile through the city's premier shopping district.

As protesters slowed late in the day on one of their many circular journeys, Chicago Police Chief Debra Kir by, head of the department's international relations office, was on the scene to monitor the march.

Asked how far police would let the crowd go, she said "'Till they tire out."

However, protesters did not tire out, gaining momentum and increasing their number as the evening wore on. But the police were succeeding in their objective of keeping the large crowds south of the Chicago River, the gateway to the city's ritziest downtown streets as well as to the hotels housing many of the dignitaries in town for the summit.

To accept that the king of the Robin Hood saga was an Edward has two notable effects on the legend. Firstly, it removes the idea that Robin Hood was an ally of Richard I. In total, Richard spent less than eight months of his ten-year reign (1189-1199) in England, choosing instead to embark on the unsuccessful third crusade of the 1190s and defending the Duchy of Normandy. Richard’s commitment to England in his earlier life is equally dubious. When still a prince he is recorded as having rebelled against his father and even joined Philip II of France in waging war against England.

Secondly, it means if there was a historical Robin Hood, he must have lived during the reign of an Edward. There are three likely candidates here. The reign of Edward I lasted from 1272 until his death in 1307. His son, Edward II succeeded him and ruled for twenty years before being murdered by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, and subsequently replaced by his son, Edward III, who ruled until 1377. While each is possible, the identity of the king in question can be narrowed down further. The early ballads would not have been in print until the early 15th century, but by 1354 there is clear indication the legend was already well known when a man arrested in Rockingham Forest for poaching and trespassing answered with quick wit that he was Robin Hood. Although doing little in terms of finding the legendary figure, it does at least demonstrate that a legend was already in place by the reign of Edward III.
According to the Gest, the king personally travels to Nottingham in a bid to capture Robin Hood. Potentially each king could have done this. Edward I was known to have passed by Nottingham in 1300; Edward II is recorded as being present twice, first in 1323 and then again in 1324, while Edward III was in Nottingham in 1330 when preparing to kidnap his mother and Mortimer. The personality of the king may also provide a clue. In the Gest, the king, disguised as an abbot, feasts with the Merry Men and is entertained by their archery. This king has a tendency to enjoy the company of the yeomen outlaws, a strange personality trait for a king. Yet it is curiously in keeping with the character of one King of England who was known to favour the lower classes throughout his reign. This same king has the most likely connection to Nottingham. All signs point to Edward II.

Sunday’s protest rally is expected to be the largest anti-NATO event by far, with as many as 15,000 protesters expected to turn out. Several veterans plan to give back their service medals during the rally, to protest NATO’s handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Protest organizer Andy Thayer said, “I think we will be peaceful. I can’t vouch for the police. I think our one big guarantee that the city will be on good behavior is the fact that so many camera people like yourself will be out there.”

Protester Eric Angell said, “I’m going to be carrying a camera today, probably checking out the behavior of the police. … I lived in Chicago for a while, so I’ve seen the police state here in Chicago and I know it’s everywhere.”

Judy Kupfer, of Minnesota, said they came out to protest against NATO, because, “The wars over in the Mideast have gotten so out of hand, and we really need to get our boys home, and out of harm’s way. And we’re not accomplishing anything over there. It’s time to come home.”

Protesters are expected to gather at the Petrillo Music Shell by noon, before marching to Cermak Road and Michigan Avenue, about a block away from McCormick Place.

Judy Kupfer, of Minnesota, said they came out to protest against NATO, because, “The wars over in the Mideast have gotten so out of hand, and we really need to get our boys home, and out of harm’s way. And we’re not accomplishing anything over there. It’s time to come home.”

The CIA and the Gulf War
by John Stockwell

Now the soldiers that we have over there today are volunteers. In Vietnam, a lot of them were draftees. This is a significant difference, although I would certainly agree that they were seduced into this thing, as I was at a comparable age. But I also note, when I start saying: "Okay, I support the soldiers," (you know) "but not the war," — but then I say: "But what about the Iraqi soldiers, and what about the Iraqi People and the Kuwaiti People, and all the others?" And then I also look back in my own history, when I was a determined member, an energetic member, of the "White male killer establishment," as Helen Caldicott calls it. And I would come home and my friends would embrace me and love me and support me. They would say:

"We don't know what you're doing. We're not sure about it over there. But we support you."

And I would go back, feeling supported, as we got drunk, as we got raunchy, as we organized the killing of people.

Now, I've analyzed carefully and even written a book about what made me change. And there were four people whom I can remember, who significantly altered my thinking. And they were people who punched me in the intellectual belly. They were close friends who said:

"What you're doing with your life is dead wrong! You are participating in EVIL! And you DO have a choice, and you CAN redirect your life."

And I raged. I hurt. I was upset. I had insomnia. It was painful. But they had made me think, and the thinking led me to break away. It's called "tough love."

I AM NOT GOING TO WEAR A YELLOW RIBBON!
[applause and cheers]

In a lecture in L.A. last week, Ron Kovic [paraplegic Vietnam War veteran, whose life is the subject of the movie, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY] was there, and a couple of people took me on. Richard Macer stood up and said: "I want to feel GOOD about this war." And I said: "You know — I don't feel good about anything about this war." But you know, so I'm a hard-ass. So, Ron Kovic — afterwards, I asked him, I said, "Am I off-base?" He said:

"No! You're ABSOLUTELY right! We have to stick these people who are over there. They DO have a choice, and they have to be reminded that what they're doing is WRONG! Don't embrace them with war and love. They're going to come back ten feet tall, with all the the drums beating, and the media and the bands playing. And what is that going to do to the ten-year-olds who see this happening? They're going to want to join the Army, and they're going to be begging for a war so they can have fun like their uncles did."

http://www.serendipity.li/cia/stock2.html

Police: 45 arrested, 4 officers hurt in protests
(Associated Press, May 20, 2012)

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says the protests of the NATO Summit resulted in 45 people being arrested and four officers suffering injuries -- one from a stab wound in the leg.

McCarthy talked about the arrests and injuries at a press briefing Sunday night, hours after officers and protesters clashed near McCormick Place, the site of the summit.

No details on the arrests were immediately available, but it appeared from the clashes that played out in front of television cameras that many of those arrested were taken into custody after refusing a police order to disperse.

Several exhausted officers could be seen pouring water over their heads, but it was also not immediately clear if any of the injuries were related to what was a blistering hot day.

Arrests and allegations of brutality between Chicago police, protesters
(By the CNN Wire Staff, May 21, 2012)

Protesters vowed to carry out disruptive demonstrations Monday in Chicago, a day after baton-wielding police clashed with demonstrators in a violent confrontation that left dozens injured just blocks from where NATO leaders were gathered.

Security was expected to be tight on the final day of the two-day NATO summit, which has played out against a backdrop of protests that has seen thousands taken to the street to protest everything from the war in Afghanistan to the economy.

Occupy Chicago, one of the groups that helped organize the demonstrations, took to social media to urge people to join in another planned demonstration at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.

Dozens were injured in a melee Sunday that came at the end of a largely, peaceful demonstration that began in Chicago's Grant Park, where President Barack Obama delivered his presidential acceptance speech in 2008.

The clashes began at the end of the march, just blocks from the NATO summit, after a group of protesters refused police orders to disperse and began physically pushing against a line of police officers clad in riot gear.

A video from CNN affiliate WLS showed protesters, some with bloodied faces, struggling against the officers, some of whom used their batons to strike the demonstrators.

The confrontation led to a two-hour standoff between police and protesters before it broke up, with demonstrators heading toward the Chicago Art Institute where First Lady Michelle Obama was reportedly set to host a dinner.

While some protesters held a sit-in near the institute, others took to the streets to block traffic.

Chicago Police and Occupy Chicago both reported injuries in their ranks during the clashes earlier in the day.

At least 45 people were arrested Sunday and four officers were taken to the hospital with injuries, said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. One officer had been stabbed in the leg, he said.

"They rallied. They charged the cops and they assaulted the officers," McCarthy said. "The finger should be pointed at the people who assaulted the cops."

McCarthy accused some protesters of splashing red paint on themselves to make it look like they had been wounded.

Protesters accused police of brutality, taking to Twitter with photos purporting to show bloody and beaten protesters.

"The police have several demonstrators detained behind their lines, calling for medics. Bloodied protesters being dragged out of sight now," Occupy Chicago wrote on its Twitter page earlier in the day.

Occupy Chicago said dozens were injured in the clashes, though less than a dozen protesters were treated at area hospitals, officials said.

The protest groups said more than 100 people were detained by police.

"Now almost 100 strong here," tweeted one Occupy protester, who claims to have been detained.

A city official, who was not authorized to talk to the media on police matters, told CNN that confrontation began when about 75 to 100 protesters refused to leave the area after being told to disperse.

They threw bottles and other objects at police, the official said.