Chicago Collateral Damage

5 Comments

1. 

   NorthDakotaDemocrat on May 28, 2012 at 7:45 pm

   It seems pretty obvious that the “fascist shift” is upon us. See Naomi Wolf’s book, The End of America.
   Guess there’s a movie out too, anyone seen it?

2. 

   Indianadem on May 29, 2012 at 10:29 am

   More on Chicago police terrorism by Stephen Lendman.

   NATO arrives everywhere violently. Chicago was no exception. Residents were terrorized for days.

   Many are still recovering. For some, it’s from hospital beds. Others are behind bars. Chicago cops upheld their odious reputation. The city is notorious for being America’s police repression capital.

   National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Chicago chapter issued a press release Friday.

   NOTE: 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.

   # # #

3. 

   Oui on May 29, 2012 at 12:19 pm

   .
   We live in a new age in the 21st century, homeland security is big business.  Invasion of privacy is just a part of the West’s war of terror. Capitalism of greed has won and is wiping out equal rights, social welfare and labor rights. Business is booming on the stock exchanges and depositing credits in the pockets of the few. All we need to do is apply permanent presure on the masses as has been so succcesful throughout the ages.

   • Creating jobs in the “Al-Qaeda economy”
   • The contradictions of the Arab Spring

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

4. 

   Superpole on May 29, 2012 at 12:42 pm

   Chalk this up as:

   Yet another policy that doesn’t change, regardless of which political party is in charge at the white house.

5. 

   Indianadem on May 31, 2012 at 2:30 pm

   “Don’t taze us, we’re with the media”

   Someone doesn’t like that “the whole world is watching”.

   As the Veterans for Peace led marchers into the mayhem of last month’s NATO protest in Chicago, photographers and cameramen from major media outlets rode ahead of the pack on a double-decker bus. A few more enterprising mainstream journalists were brave enough to walk in the crowd — under the protection of uniformed security guards. And when shit finally went down that evening, most television crews retreated to rooftops on the edge of the chaos. Embedded they were not.

   Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/139390-dont-taze-us-were-with-the-media/#ixzz1wTP6LshQ