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LOCAL Announcement :: Civil & Human Rights : Crime & Police : Labor : Protest Activity

An Anonymous Statement Regarding Occupy Chicago and the Police

Not everyone participating in Occupy Chicago understands that there are a few people abusing their positions of power and actively engaging in a pro-police pro-police policy. Actions that put other activists at risk in the name of "security" and peace are detrimental to our community. This is a story of what happened to her at Occupy Chicago less than two weeks ago.
This is my personal account of events occurred the evening of September 30th, 2011, after leaving the Occupy Chicago General Assembly. I speak in a personal capacity and claim to represent no one but myself.

Around 9:00pm, the occupation was on the move to a new location as instructed by the Chicago Police Department. While en route to the new location from Millennium Park, I decided to part ways with my affinity group as I needed to pick up my daughter and head home. Against my better judgment, I said goodbye to my fellow workers & friends and left alone to head west about 4 blocks to where my car was parked in a garage. This particular evening I was wearing black jeans, an IWW t-shirt (Industrial Workers of the World), and a black jacket. Upon my departure, a FW suggested I zip up my jacket to simply remain less noticeable and avoid a confrontation with someone in opposition to the occupation or something of the like. I did so.

As a single woman, I've been conditioned to be completely aware of my surroundings. I have a need to know where everyone is at all times as a means to keep myself safe. So needless to say, when I noticed a black town car driving at a snail's pace keeping up with my stride I immediately became uncomfortable. For two blocks, this car kept up with me despite traffic passing it. The further west I walked from Michigan Avenue, the more desolate downtown Chicago became, dwindling to just a few people scattered here and there. Because I felt like I was being followed, I decided to walk upstairs to an El stop I was passing to be around people until the vehicle passed. Unable to see the street from where I was standing (without having to pay the fare to get on the train deck, that is), I just waited a few minutes and called my group back at the occupation. At this time, I let them know that I believed I was being followed by someone in a black town car and that I felt unsafe to be alone.

I decided to head downstairs and walk the 1 remaining block to my car. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I was approached by a man in a suit who was seemingly average looking, nothing very distinguishing about him. He started to strike up a forceful conversation with me that quickly turned into questions like "Where are you going? What were you doing tonight? Where are your friends?" to which I kept responding, "I'm sorry, but I need to go." The questioning continued and as I tried to walk away, this person made a grab at my jacket in an initial attempt to unzip it. "Let me see the shirt you are wearing," he said and while aggressively grabbing me and touching my breasts to unzip my hoodie he managed to expose my shirt enough to read "I.W.W." and made a comment that I can't remember exactly, but it was kind of an "Aha! Gotcha!" type of statement. I backed away and assertively told him that I absolutely HAD to leave and had nothing to say to him. Standing in my way and standing over me in an intimidating manner, he grabbed my phone out of my hands and looked as though he was trying to go through it. It was locked and this seemed to only exacerbate the situation as he made one more final attempt to put his hands on me and completely take my jacket off of me.

At this point the only option I felt I had left was to just scream. I yelled as loudly as I could to get the attention of the small group of people who were across the street from us. When they all turned their heads, two began to walk towards myself and this unidentified person. The man who had assaulted me threw my phone on the ground, breaking it's case and shattering the glass on the back of it, and jumped into that same black town car I was suspicious of before. A few people that were standing around asked me if I was okay or if I wanted to call the police and I said I was fine and walked the last block to the parking garage. Once I was in my car, I called my comrade back to let him know exactly what had happened to me. It is my suspicion that these men were, at the very least, undercover cops or even quite possibly federal agents. However, as I stated earlier, neither the person I had direct contact with or the driver of the vehicle identified themselves as such. I wanted to let my group know that this happened for the safety of my friends and the people at the occupation. As I started driving, I happened to notice a couple police wagons heading east and wanted them to be aware of that, too, just in case.

I cannot speak to the intent of the two men involved in this assault, but I do believe that this was an intimidation tactic used to agitate. It is no secret that I am a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Perhaps it was for this reason that I was followed as an individual who broke away solo from their affinity group, or perhaps it was made on impulse to try and send a message to the people of Occupy Chicago. Either way, people needed to know that this just happened if for no other reason than a comrade of theirs was just assaulted while walking alone. The person I was directly communicating with asked if he could share my story with the General Assembly and I said that I was okay with it so long as I remained anonymous.

The events that followed thereafter I was not there for, but I still would wish to speak to them. I heard from several trusted comrades, friends, & IWWs that a "police liaison" for the Occupy Chicago movement tried to silence my story and wished to keep it under wraps. They stated that they did not want to scare anyone and once this FW went against the suggestion of the "police liaison" and told the GA what had occurred, he, and my comrades who work tirelessly in the name of the working class and the IWW, were labeled as "agent provocateurs" and even went as far as to suggest that I, myself, was a liar. Had this person done even a minimal amount of research, they would realize that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people that could and would vouch for every single person in our group from not only the IWW but Chicago's local radical community.

Then a statement was made on the official Occupy Chicago Twitter account, that has over 5,000 followers, stating that no one should believe my story in an attempt to discredit myself and my comrades.

This is not a scare tactic, this is not the actions of a provocateur, this is the reality of class warfare. This happened to me and it could just as easily happen to anyone. Not only have I been personally shaken from being assaulted and having a stranger question me and put their hands on me, I have to find out that the community that should have my back has turned on me. There is nothing more incredibly ostracizing than this, which is why I choose to remain anonymous. I implore you to take a look at the people you are following. Take a look at the people you are listening to. Those who would call others in the radical community agent provocateurs lightly and without having some solid EVIDENCE to support their claim are either incredibly naive and unaware of what bad jacketing an activist can do or are, perhaps, provocateurs themselves.

Solidarity Forever.
 
 

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