Chicago Police Violence NATO 2012 (5-years ago) – If you have never experienced police violence I filmed the beatings protesters took on the front-line of the NATO demonstrations in Chicago as a Substance News Reporter at Cermak and Michigan. It was a good idea that day I wore a bike helmet. It helped when the baton hit my head. Kati Gilson saw me afterwards missing one shoe!! Előre
VIDEO CREDIT John Kugler Substance News http://www.substancenews.net/
REPOST OF May 21, 2012 Story
Just got back home after getting hit four times in my head (lucky i had helmet on) plus lost a shoe(where high tops next time). On the corner of Cermak and Michigan there was a stand off where police kettled a group of protesters using riot police. The police moved in on the protesters and violence ensued. I saw a few people with busted heads and bleeding. There was no regard for safety or the lawful right to assemble. I will upload video later were police told me even if I was press it did not matter, “higher ups” told them to take care of everybody.
VIDEO CREDIT John Kugler Substance News http://www.substancenews.net/
look at pictures and video. everything was fine until riot police kettled protesters and created chaos In the middle of crowd in riot gear (clear escalation while police were pushing east from cermak on michigan)
Billy clubs were already out when the violence began.
It was clear that the confrontation was planned. And when the police penned in a group of protesters at the corner of Cermak and Michigan, things became very difficult very fast. The violence escalated, as the videos below show. The police, who had been ordered, as far as Substance could see, to display their billy clubs during all of the NATO protests, moved in and began swinging at people.
The first of two Substance videos from inside the “kettle” is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjBNXa9khI&feature=youtu.be
According to Occupy organizers, a “kettle” is when the police pen in a group of protesters on all sides, then squeeze. The result is usually the violence that may or may not have been provoked prior to the “kettling.”
“This was very similar to what happened in the weeks before the Democratic Convention of 1968,” Substance reporter George Schmidt told this reporter later. “In May 1968, the Chicago police created a kind of “kettle” — the term didn’t exist at the time — during an anti-war protest in Chicago’s Civic Center Plaza. Police on the east side ordered protesters to move west, while those on the west side ordered the protesters to move east, and the squeeze resulted, predictably, in major violence. During the beatings, police told anti-war protesters, many of whom were pacifists, that this was a warning to stay away from Chicago in August” [When the Democratic Convention was scheduled to come to town].
Deja vu all over again?
Chicago in August 1968 didn’t have You Tube and camera phones.
It took months before the so-called “Kerner Commission” (part of a governmental investigation called to look into the “causes and prevention of violence”) came out with its report on the August 1968 Chicago demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention and the report called much of what had taken place a “police riot.”
That report, written by a commission chaired by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, went into detail. But as the protests against NATO continued on Sunday, August 20, it looked like “deja vu all over again.” And by the end of the day on May 20, it was clear that there had been police violence against the protesters and that the city had also deliberately underestimated the huge crowd that marched towards the NATO meeting.
Flash forward to May 2012, at Michigan Ave. and Cermak Road in Chicago. NATO leaders are meeting in McCormick Place, a few blocks to the east, but even mainstream corporate reporters have been forced to cover the stories from a viewing room on closed circuit TV. Meanwhile, on the streets, protesters were demanding to get closer to the NATO war makers.
Another Substance video shows Chicago police beating protesters using billy clubs during the May 20, 2012 events. The URL for one of those is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjBNXa9khI&feature=youtu.be
Are we seeing the same thing in Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago in May 2012 that the world say in Richard M. Daley’s Chicago in 1968? Sadly, it appears to be the case.
One of the things that was obvious to careful observers since the NATO protests began was that the police (all of them: City of Chicago; State Police) were under orders from their superiors to display their billy clubs. Every Substance reporter who covered the various events showed this. And in general there was no reason for it except as a macho show of force ordered by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his hand-picked police chief, Garry McCarthy.
Another fact established by Substance staff members was that Chicago police had been told lurid tales about preparations to throw nasty materials at the police (just as had been claimed during the 1968 protests; later it was learned that most of the provocations had come not from protesters by from agents provocateurs).
Here are some of the reports:
[VIDEO] Police Violence NATO Protesters May 20 2012 http://youtu.be/bzjBNXa9khI
More video from front line of protest and police violence http://youtu.be/0yrC97O2AkI
On a personal note: I got back home from covering the May 20, 2012 march after getting hit four times in my head (lucky I had a helmet on). I also lost a shoe. I’ll remember to wear high tops next time. (The day before, George Schmidt had told Substance reporters not to wear sandals when covering the protest; very good advice).
On the corner of Cermak and Michigan there was a stand off where police kettled a group of protesters using riot police. The police moved in on the protesters and violence ensued. I saw a few people with busted heads and bleeding. There was no regard for safety or the lawful right to assemble. I will upload video later were police told me even if I was press it did not matter, “higher ups” told them to take care of everybody.
Look at pictures and video. Everything was fine until riot police kettled protesters and created chaos.
In the middle of crowd in riot gear[pic CPD kettling]
(clear escalation while police were pushing east from cermak on michigan)
On top of median to further intimidate protesters[pic police standing on median]
