CHICAGO – Members of a number of peace projects, including Code Pink Chicago, the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, the AFSC’s Chicagoland Coalition Opposed to the Militarization of Youth, and the Latino counter-recruitment project CAMI – an acronym for Contra Antimilitaricion – were arrested today for handing out flyers and talking to the public near a military recruiters’ booth at the Taste of Chicago this afternoon.

The arrests occurred at around 2:30 PM, and come in the wake of days of harassment of peace activists by the CPD at the Taste, as well as similar kinds of harassment and several incidents of physical aggression by cops against peace activists at the Blues Fest in June.

Six activists have been arrested so far, including one senior citizen and one juvenile. Police have dismissed any invocation of activists’ constitutional and legal rights as not applicable because the recruiters have ‘rented space’ and the cops assert that this allows them to therefore remove activists.

Police have refused to tell lawyers on site where the arrestees are being taken, or even what they are charged with, following the time-honored cop tradition of 'arrest first, make up charges later.'

At one point police formed a line of officers in front of the military recruiting booth.

Peace activists have routinely collected signatures, handed out counter-recruitment brochures and talked to members of the public at and around military recruiting sites for literally decades.

But beginning last month at the Blues Fest, the Chicago Police began an aggressive campaign of pushing back and threatening this kind of activity, which attorneys for the activists argue is constitutionally protected.

Since then, Chicago police have specifically singled out anti-war activists for harassment and arrest at public gatherings. Cops have insisted that peace activists must retreat to a ‘protest pit’ area, while allowing other forms of commercial and free speech to proceed at gatherings like the Taste of Chicago unmolested.

While attorneys providing legal support for the protesters have provided extensive documentation of the constitutional and legal provisions that protect this form of activity, the Chicago police continue to deny the lawyers’ request for reinstatement of constitutional rights.

For previous reports on police harassment of this ilk, click this link.

Related Links: Chicagoland Coalition Opposed to the Militarization of Youth | Code Pink Chicago | National Lawyers Guild - Chicago | NLG: Know Your Rights - For Demonstrators at Protests (PDF)