It wouldn't be a summit these days without terrorism charges. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/us/3-in-chicago-face-terrorism-charges-tied-to-nato-protests.html Three men arrested in Chicago on Wednesday night were planning to attack the campaign headquarters of President Obama, the house of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, police stations and financial institutions in downtown Chicago, prosecutors said on Saturday. The men, who were in Chicago to take part in protests related to the NATO summit meeting taking place here on Sunday and Monday, were charged with criminal acts relating to terrorism, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and possession of explosives. “The individuals we charged are not peaceful protesters, they are domestic terrorists,” said the state’s attorney, Anita Alvarez. “The charges we bring today are not indicative of a protest movement that has been targeted.” Ms. Alvarez said that this was the first time she knew of that defendants had been charged under the state’s antiterrorism statute. She declined to comment on possible federal charges. Whether legitimate or a case of entrapment, it's too early to tell. They seemed to get one from central casting as an "anarchist" in this case, but the other two look like out of work record store clerks:
I was downtown today. Grant Park, Millenium Park. Ghost town. It was a great day to walk the Loop. There was about 10% of the usual assemblage. Traffic was almost non-existent. Police were few and far between. Im really hoping the breathless leadup, announced closures, dire predictions, failure to present a budget for the proceedings are all tied together. Make people decide to stay away in lieu of massive, expensive, preparation. Then, dont implement 60% of the announced crowd control. Cheap and effective. I really hope thats the reality. When its all said and done it could cost almost nothing if today was any indication. All the Blue I spoke with acted as if it isnt anything close to the dire, Draconian, expectations. If so, well done Rahm. Well see tomorrow.
About 6pm Saturday the protestors came right past my building. They actually cut across the corner of the property and then went through a parking lot across the street. There were easily 1000 and the leading part of the column was running. Police in riot gear emerged from white unmarked vans and sealed off the cross streets, as if to channel the column. Police on bicyles were initially along side the column, but could not follow into the parking lot. Below is a link to a picture (not mine) showing the itinal part of the column in the parking lot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27682849@N05/7231235502 Anyway, but the time the protestors reashed the next intersection, the police must have sealed the cross streets (buildings blocked my view) and the crowd continied north. I read this morning that the police were trying to keep the protestors south of the Chicago river and away from north Michigan Avenue, where hotels that some of the dignataries are staying at are located. Thus, the protestors were racing to find an intersection that the police had not yet sealed. From what I saw, the police were very professional - not looking for a fight - just trying to keep some control over the column.
These guys look like they're more likely to terrorize the Mountain Dew at the 7-11 before terrorizing the skate park.
Fire Ultras?? In seriousness, riot police deluxe. A barricade just got aimed at riot police, but not a hard shot. Police pushing back. Getting a wee bit tense now.
You people warned this would would happen if I voted for McCain. How I wish now that I had listened. But what do you expect, with Chicago electing a far right wing Republican mayor -- if only they had elected one of Obama's friends this might have been handled differently.
Get some new material. You're not this big of a moron. You're cutting into Steamer/Quayle turf with this barely literate crap.
Just got back from a stroll by Millenium Park and it is really pretty tame there. A lot of signs saying veto NATO, and Chi-raq, etc... I listeined in on a few interviews and heard one person actually say that they were against this NATO meeting because NATO caused the housing meltdown. No joke he actually said that, I laughed loud enough to interupt his interview and had to walk away. Another group were talking about how NATO STARTED the war on iraq and afghanistan. The last interview that I overheard was some kid with really ratty hair and one of those beards where you aren't grown up enough to be able to grow a beard beards was talking about how he didn't understand the local media portraying the Chicago Police as being the good guys and believing the lies being spread about protestors throwing urine and barricades at Police. I can say that the Police are out in force and are ready for anything but they aren't in their faces at Millenium Park and are actually giving them quite a bit of breathing room. At least at the North End of the park. Quite a few choppers and saw a single flight of F-16's going over the city. A lot of ACLU observers out, and the homeless are making their way over to the park as well. Guess no one told them that these kids out here don't have any money.
Well in fairness it all seemed to go quite well. Despite the occasional and usual complaints about police overreaction, no bombs went off and no protesters have been badly hurt. All the concerns about riots and the like have been avoided, the only real complaint is that my tenants in Lincoln Park had yet another loud party overe the weekend, causing my wife to get the usual in box full of complaints (though surprisingly the next door unit thought the party was fairly quiet and tame). Maybe I will rent my unit out to Occupy Everything once the current tenants' lease is up.