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Locality:
Stories fly by quick on our newswire. You many have missed a couple you want to check out – and join in the conversation.
Hundreds Protest I.C.E. and Call on Them to Stop Racist Practices
Claudia García-Rojas on one of Monday’s biggest, most diverse actions – and the ass-kicking that local immigration rights activists handed to a local congressman who had it coming for his cowardice.IVAW and Afghans for Peace In Historic March On NATO
Every corporate outlet on the planet seems to think that misreporting calculated police violence is more important than military veterans flinging their medals back at the NATO generals and their paymasters. We disagree. Check out this short report from IVAW.And speaking of police violence – something the vast majority of youth of color in the Windy City live with every single day of their lives – two stories on our newswire about the weekend’s NATO protests have been drawing passionate debate … and some very interesting factual accounts. Check ‘em out: Undercovers lead night march, arrest local | The two faces of NATO: PR spin versus video reality
Finally, from our friends at Occupied Stories and the Occupied Chicago Tribune, the story of one of the dozens of street medics who had our backs this month. Medics, you rock: The Accidental Medic: A Short Narrative From The NATO Protests
Photos: Sarah Jane Rhee/Chicago Indymedia. Check out her work here, here, here and here!
The two faces of NATO: PR spin versus video reality
Locality:The two faces of NATO: PR spin versus video reality
While the Obama and Emanuel administrations are congratulating themselves on a public relations coup, NATO protesters are documenting the wave of police violence unleashed on them in recent days -- particularly Sunday, when protesters sought to exercise a right they thought they had but didn't: to speak truth to power.City and federal officials have doggedly stuck to the spin about a dangerous band of 'anarchists' who started trouble on Sunday. But it's clear from the videos below -- and dozens more that have begun to surface on the web -- that the only thugs in black on May 20 were the police. And the police unloaded, narrowly missing 75-year-old peace protester Nan Wigmore, who was caught in the crush at the front line of the police violence.
The harrowing scenes in the first two videos below, shot by Substance News contributor John Kugler, show police hammering on protesters with billy clubs and their hands, feet and bodies. Protesters clearly shout "There's nowhere to go!" as the police line wails on them to push them away from the intersection of Cermak and Michigan. The protesters' goal? To take their opposition to NATO to the summit itself -- a goal denied by the protest 'permit' which the City of Chicago and the Obama administration ultimately 'granted.' That permit failed to meet even the minimum request of some organizers to be within 'site and sound' of the government bureaucrats' deliberations.
Hundreds Protest I.C.E. and Call on Them to Stop Racist Practices
Locality:On 21 May 2012, the last day of protest action during the NATO summit, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Office (I.C.E.) to send I.C.E. a message: stop the construction of an immigration detention center in Crete, Illinois!
Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr.’s office had planned to facilitate a public town hall meeting on Monday to hear the concerns of Illinois constituents opposed to the building of a prison for undocumented people in Crete, Illinois. A Press Release from Representative Jackson Jr.’s office states that the public meeting was postponed due to “security concerns raised by NATO and outside protesters who are threatening to come to Crete.”
Moratorium for Deportations a Chicago-based group created to initiate dialogue, share information and coordinate efforts to get from President Obama an Executive Order for a Moratorium on Deportation, was one of a few organizations planning to attend the public town hall meeting. Rozalinda Borcila, a member of the group, says, “Representative Jackson and I.C.E. officials have stated this meeting represents their intentions to listen to people’s concerns and to hear public input. However, we don’t recognize the legitimacy of these claims, and I don’t think that this meeting would have represented an open public-dialogue about the issue of detention. So, we announced our intentions to participate in the meeting in the spirit of dissent and we are surprised by the postponement of the meeting, and we feel that Representative Jackson’s statement equate dissent with security threats.”
NATO brings its war machine home
Locality:
NATO brings its war machine homeThousands protest military arm of global elites in days of protest around annual warmongers' summit
Representatives of CANG8, Occupy Chicago and Chicago Action Medical have condemned systemic police violence at the CANG8/IVAW anti-NATO protest on Sunday -- and more broadly, condemned the military machine that has brought thousands of protesters together in Chicago for a week of actions and events to oppose the NATO meeting and its larger agenda. Luminaries who ranged from Noam Chomsky and Tom Morello to Greece's SYRIZA -- in English, the Coalition for the Radical Left -- encouraged people to protest the NATO summit. The confab of war criminals ended Monday, as activists rallied against war profiteer Boeing.
"The police have been preparing for this mentally, physically, emotionally -- preparing to beat us up for a year," said CANG8 organizer Joe Iosbaker. "This is the violence that NATO is, that NATO brings with them."
Sunday's police violence came on the heels of a peaceful anti-NATO march designed to draw attention to NATO's role as the military arm of global elites -- and to the enormous destruction that NATO military action brings to the people whose countries it bombs and occupies. Read more.
CIMC & NATO Indymedia coverage of #noNATO actions
Locality:The Chicago Independent Media Center organized the NATO Indymedia umbrella, including the convergence center, to provide grassroots coverage of the protests and actions against and leading up to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Chicago. What follows are highlights from our coverage.
Monday, May 21
Livestreaming from all the day's events including the March to shut down Boeing (10am), the press conference denouncing police brutality and restrictions on free speech and protest (2:00pm at Obama campaign headquarters), the 'Shut Down ICE' march (3:30pm at Union Park). Photos, copy and video to follow.
Sunday, May 20
Video of the CANG8/IVAW March.
Photos only IVAW/CANG8 protest by Chris Geovanis. Gallery 2 | Gallery 3.
Thousand march to oppose police repression in run-up to NATO summit
Locality:
Thousand march to oppose police repression in run-up to NATO summitChicago saw thousands of people in the streets Saturday in the run-up to the beginning of the NATO summit. with the afternoon's boisterous but peaceful protest marches marred by sweeping police violence.
Protests began in the morning at the Irving Park Brown Line public transit stop, where protesters donned hospital gowns and canvassed the local neighborhood, then assembled at noon for the “Healthcare not Warfare!” actionto protest the closure of half of the city’s public mental health clinics in a ‘cost-saving’ measure protesters say is both unnecessary and part of the city’s push to privatize public services.
At the same time, supporters of three men arrested in a Wednesday night raid at the Bridgeport apartment of Occupy Chicago activists were gathering at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse for the arrestees’ noon bail hearing on state terrorism charges -- allegations their attorneys call ludicrous. All three men had earlier in the week released a video that documented their targeted harassment by Chicago police, a tape which is said to have enraged local cops.
Protesters called for a 3:30PM emergency protest in the heart of the city’s financial district -- where Occupy Chicago has staged several large marches seeking to create an encampment that has been repeatedly thwarted by police and produced hundreds of arrests last year.
That emergency protest eventually linked up with a planned evening anti-capitalist march staged out of the Haymarket memorial and subsequently swelled to thousands, turning into a rolling wave of opposition to the Chicago police department’s sustained effort to thwart anti-NATO protests.
The protesters’ goal this week? To ratchet up attention on NATO, the military arm of the 1% -- a cold war relic with a clearly overtly aggressive military mission. NATO missions have killed thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, bombed Libya back into the stone age and allowed its rich oil resources to be steered toward more direct control of western oil companies, and turned a blind eye to the repressive regimes of allies in Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries. Member states of NATO, let by the U.S., supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq, leaving that nation in ruins -- and its petroleum resources in the hands of western elites and their allies. Read more.
Mayor must order cops to release protesters, say anti-NATO activists
Locality:
Mayor must order cops to release protesters, say anti-NATO activistsChicago police abducted eight anti-NATO protesters last night after breaking in the door on their Bridgeport apartment just before midnight Wednesday. Police are denying they have the anti-NATO activists in custody, even though attorneys have independently verified the raid with eyewitnesses and confirmed that at least some of the activists are in police custody. Cops reportedly produced a warrant that was blank, and also entered and searched an adjacent apartment in the same building. NLG attorney Sarah Gelsomino described the activists as ‘disappeared.’
According to witnesses in Bridgeport, police broke down a door to access a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one of the tenants a "Commie faggot." A search warrant produced 4 hours after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge's signature, according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone.
Call mayor Emanuel at 312-744-5000 and police superintendent McCarthy 312-744-4000 and demand the immediate release of the activists.
Cops raid Bridgeport home, step up harassment of NATO activists
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Locality:PRESS RELEASE
Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
For Immediate Release: May 17, 2012
Contact: NLG Legal Worker Kris Hermes 510-681-6361 or NLG Attorney Sarah Gelsomino 773-520-8246National Lawyers Guild Condemns Preemptive Police Raids & Unlawful Searches on the Streets
Early morning house raid in Bridgeport and harassment of activists indicates intolerance of free speech rightsNOTE: Press conference to be held TODAY at 5:30pm at 3340 W. Fillmore Street, the Chicago Police Department's Organized Crime Division
Chicago, IL -- The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns a preemptive police raid that took place at approximately 11:30pm Wednesday in the Bridgeport neighborhood, and instances of harassment on the street, in which Chicago police are unlawfully detaining, searching, and questioning NATO protesters. The Bridgeport raid was apparently conducted by the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department and resulted in as many as 8 arrests.
According to witnesses in Bridgeport, police broke down a door to access a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one of the tenants a "Commie faggot." A search warrant produced 4 hours after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge's signature, according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone.
"Preemptive raids like this are a hallmark of National Special Security Events," said Sarah Gelsomino with the NLG and the People's Law Office. "The Chicago police and other law enforcement agencies should be aware that this behavior will not be tolerated and will result in real consequences for the city."
In another incident, 3 plainclothes police officers unlawfully stopped, handcuffed, and searched a NATO protester on Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive at approximately 2pm today. According to the protester, he did not consent to a search and there was no probable cause to detain him. The police also photographed and questioned him about where he was from, how he got to Chicago, how long it took, what he was doing here, where he was staying, who he was with, and how long he was planning to say in Chicago. The protester refused to answer any questions and was eventually released.
The NLG has received reports that at least 20 people have been arrested so far this week, and two people are still in custody, not including the Bridgeport residents who are still unaccounted for. One of the protesters currently being detained, Danny Johnson of Los Angeles, has been accused of assaulting a police officer during an immigrant rights rally on Tuesday afternoon. However, multiple witnesses on the scene, including an NLG Legal Observer, recorded a version of events that contradict the accusations of police.
During the week of NATO demonstrations, the NLG is staffing a legal office and answering calls from activists on the streets and in jail. The NLG will also be dispatching scores of Legal Observers to record police misconduct and representing arrestees in the event the city pursues criminal prosecutions.
# # #
CPD's Plan to Silence Media Coverage
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Locality:Summary:CPD's plan to detain & search reporters, confiscate equipment, & book if arrested.Beginning with the foreboding words, “NOT INTENDED FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. FOR MEDIA GUIDANCE ONLY” CPD has begun prepping mainstream press for this weekend’s actions. While the entire PDF can be seen here (generally distributed, nonetheless): http://www.inba.net/userfiles/file/CPDgroundrules_051612.pdf, some important “Ground Rules” are clearly intended for independent journalists. Such as:
”...media access generally will be the same as public access. Credentials will, however, allow media personnel access to media-only areas. No “cutting” in and out of police lines will be permitted, or “going up against their backs.” Those who follow protesters onto private property to document their actions are also will be subject to arrest if laws are broken.”
”Any member of the media who is arrested will have to go through the same booking process as anyone else. Release of equipment depends on what part the equipment played in the events that led to the arrest.”
”...the Chicago Police Department does not intend to “break ground” in terms of enforcing the Illinois eavesdropping law. In short, police will not interfere if we videotape or record audio of police activities, including arrests.”
”Reporters who carry backpacks should be prepared to show their content to police. You may be asked to fire up and demonstrate any equipment that does not look familiar to officers.”
”It is the intent of Chicago Police to provide close access, with direct vision and contact with those entering and leaving events/marches/rallies. But police emphasized that those who choose to walk amid the protesters are “on your own.”
Chicago protests racist immigration policies
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Locality:Summary:Father José Landaverde and Occupy El Barrio led a march against immigration detention from Little Village to downtown Chicago, ending outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Chicago Immigration Court.For a full list of actions leading up to the 18-21 protests against NATO, see the calendar. All need coverage and participants!
Father José Landaverde and Occupy El Barrio led a march against immigration detention from Little Village to downtown Chicago, ending outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Chicago Immigration Court. CIMC caught up with organizer Crystal Vance Guerra after the event. She noted that, "This is the second day of actions leading up to the NATO summit," and the action is "addressing issues that impact us here in Chicago, but also making connections to NATO."
Vance Guerra asked why "the city of Chicago is willing to put in money to fund a summit of people who are propagating wars across the globe." "How is it we have money for war and [immigration] detention but not education?" she asked. "There's all this money for war but not for the people."
Marchers rallied outside the Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Mission in Little Village then marched to the Lincoln Methodist Church in Pilsen. They met up with Occupy members and marched downtown to the Chicago Immigration Court at Van Buren and Clinton to hold a press conference and rally against ICE policies. Activists then picketed the space and several activists blocked the doors for over an hour, restricting access to the building. Two of the activists blocking the doors, José Landaverde and Emma Lozano, were arrested after police demanded protestors vacate the space "at request of building management." While the building management's requests were quickly headed, the protestors requests for and end to deportations were disregarded by the police.
After Fr. Landaverde and Lozano were arrested, the crowd rallied to form another picket and march where two other activists were arrested after police demanded they stay on the sidewalk. Vance Guerra said, "When we got to the bridge […] the cops lined up with as many bikes as they could find [to block the street]. One of the young guys who was arrested was crossing the street […] and they arrested a guy from Occupy El Barrio who we all saw as on the sidewalk."
Vance Guerra noted how NATO and US immigration policy overlapped in another, perhaps less intimately connected way, systemic White supremacy. She noted that "the way immigration is controlled in this country is racially motivated." Further, NATO's wars are being fought against "non-White nations, it's all connected."
For more photos see the NATO Indymedia facebook page.
For video of the action see Unedited Camera's archived livestream.
