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The Climate of Repression During the NATO Summit
An excellent overview of fomenting fear, and police violence and repression.
From Kevin Gosztola at The Dissenter
70 people reported injuries. Arbitrary snatch and grab. Kettling. Etc.
I'm only posting the last few paragraphs but the rest of the article describes the abuses.
The “Black Bloc” Boogeyman
Police, city officials and other security personnel took advantage of this narrative that “Black Bloc” protesters were here to attack. They put pressure on organizers to control or distance themselves from people, who would show up in black at the protests.
“They kept on baiting us with this and we refused to take the bait. I mean, we’re not going to trash fellow protesters,” explains Thayer. “For one thing, there have been plenty of evidence from Miami Free Trade of the Americas conference, where alleged Black Bloc, some of them were police officers that melted into police lines after starting shit that justified police violence against all protesters. We weren’t going to take that bait and say, “Black Bloc this and Black Bloc that.” (In fact, photojournalist Paul Weiskel took some photos of people he believed to be possible agent provocateurs.)
They used “Black Bloc” protesters as a pretext to justify raids, arbitrary searches, restrictive ordinances, obstructing the granting of permits, police force and brutality, the rounding up of people on the streets, etc.
McCarthy and his police department want to take all the credit for there being no real “riots” or mass chaos. There is no acknowledgment of the thousands of protesters who obeyed the law and did not bring destruction to the city. There is no acknowledgment of the fact that perhaps the authorities and media were wrong to suggest people were coming to do damage because no windows of businesses were broken as part of the protests against NATO. McCarthy wants the world to believe his police force prevented that with special newfangled tactics they rolled out that involved placing bikes and police officers along areas where protests or marches were occurring.
The truth is that the Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago, like other cities that have hosted NSSEs, hyped up the threat posed by “Black Bloc” and were wrong. Other than violent rhetoric from members and some throwing of materials (which police handled), no major destruction or uncontrollable violence took place. That is because around 99% of people in Chicago to protest had no intention to pursue some vendetta against police and just wanted to protest NATO and have the space to exercise their First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, the city and federal government chose to not fully respect people’s desire to engage in speech and assembly and the specter of being harassed, intimidated or targeted haunted people in town to protest throughout the duration of the summit.
Police, city officials and other security personnel took advantage of this narrative that “Black Bloc” protesters were here to attack. They put pressure on organizers to control or distance themselves from people, who would show up in black at the protests.
“They kept on baiting us with this and we refused to take the bait. I mean, we’re not going to trash fellow protesters,” explains Thayer. “For one thing, there have been plenty of evidence from Miami Free Trade of the Americas conference, where alleged Black Bloc, some of them were police officers that melted into police lines after starting shit that justified police violence against all protesters. We weren’t going to take that bait and say, “Black Bloc this and Black Bloc that.” (In fact, photojournalist Paul Weiskel took some photos of people he believed to be possible agent provocateurs.)
They used “Black Bloc” protesters as a pretext to justify raids, arbitrary searches, restrictive ordinances, obstructing the granting of permits, police force and brutality, the rounding up of people on the streets, etc.
McCarthy and his police department want to take all the credit for there being no real “riots” or mass chaos. There is no acknowledgment of the thousands of protesters who obeyed the law and did not bring destruction to the city. There is no acknowledgment of the fact that perhaps the authorities and media were wrong to suggest people were coming to do damage because no windows of businesses were broken as part of the protests against NATO. McCarthy wants the world to believe his police force prevented that with special newfangled tactics they rolled out that involved placing bikes and police officers along areas where protests or marches were occurring.
The truth is that the Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago, like other cities that have hosted NSSEs, hyped up the threat posed by “Black Bloc” and were wrong. Other than violent rhetoric from members and some throwing of materials (which police handled), no major destruction or uncontrollable violence took place. That is because around 99% of people in Chicago to protest had no intention to pursue some vendetta against police and just wanted to protest NATO and have the space to exercise their First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, the city and federal government chose to not fully respect people’s desire to engage in speech and assembly and the specter of being harassed, intimidated or targeted haunted people in town to protest throughout the duration of the summit.
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