Arlington Heights, IL:

At 8am on Saturday October 15, a diverse array anarchist, socialist, communist, and student groups gathered in opposition to a planned "Minutemen Bootcamp" at the christian liberty academy. With numbers swelling to nearly 60, the spontaneously organized protest began picketing outside of the church. As numbers of minutemen appearing increased, the crowd became more militant and decided to post itself in front of the building's main entrance. A short rally ensued, followed by a dance/drum circle at about 9am. The minutemen gathered on the porch decided to go inside for their planned activities.

At this point the 6 present Arlington Heights police were very hands off, only adding commentary asking the group to keep moving. The drum circle emboldened people, and a blockade was created in order to prevent late stragglers from entering. The police were able to force their way through the original blockade to let 2 stragglers in, but after this more joined and the minutemen security decided to start hopping railings instead of trying to get past the now 2-deep, 30 strong blockade.

Police then attempted to arrest a number of those blockading the entrance, however the crowd successfully unarrested everybody and the police left, upset at their own powerlessness. The crowd became emboldened, chanting "Un pueblo, unido, hamas eran vencido!" At this time the Coalition for African, Asian, Latino, and European Immigrants of Illinois arrived with 4 busloads of community members from all over chicago.

The blockade broke up to show solidarity and attend the planned rally with CAAELI. However, police reinforcements arrived and attempted to snatch a number of those from the crowd who had earlier participated in the blockade. They succeeded in 3 arrests, however the crowd fiercely fought back. This prompted a large riot squad to be called in, and the area surrounding the christian liberty academy to be flooded with police blockades. Police were singling out those who were earlier involved with the blockade as they left for their cars.

Organizers of the CAAELI rally denounced the earlier protest and refused to allow an announcement for jail support over their PA. Accusations flew of the "white left" being uninterested in showing solidarity with at risk communities. At one point an organizer said "you anarchist people should just go across the street and get yourself arrested, you obviously want to." This was despite the earlier blockade and unarrests were very diverse, both in color and political viewpoints.

The police presence and the snipers atop the christian liberty academy added to the tensions, and helped create a divide between those willing to put their bodies on the line and those who cannnot risk being deported. In reality, there was an amazing amount of solidarity from the rank and file of both contingents. Families shouted down minutemen and cheered when a car whose bumper bore a confederate flag's tires were flattened. Radicals attended the rally and heard out the planned speakers, choosing to end militant action in respect of the presence of higher risk people and the increased police force.

All in all there were 5 arrests, and the protest dispersed very early because of tensions created by the police.

pictures at:

chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/64231/index.php