Managing Dissent in Chicago

[xchrom]

http://inthesetimes.com/article/12685/managing_dissent_in_chicago/


Police officers wear riot gear during a demonstration at the G8 summit held in Brunswick, GA., in 2004. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CHICAGO–Although the world’s most powerful man calls Chicago home, the city’s boosters still have a chip on their shoulder. In 2009, their bid for the 2016 Olympics ended in failure, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel has convinced his old boss, Barack Obama, to let Chicago host the G8 and NATO summits in May. The stage is now set: Leaders of the military alliance and “Group of Eight” rich countries haven’t met in the same place at the same time since 1977.

“If you want to be a global city, you’ve got to act like a global city,” Lori Healey, executive director of the Chicago G8 & NATO host committee and a leader of the city’s Olympic bid, said in January. But as activists have learned, cities playing their global role tend to systematically squelch dissent. The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and assembly, but not freedom from the capricious dictates of the Chicago Police Department and the Secret Service, which could nullify protest permits immediately before the summits.

On January 18, the Chicago City Council overwhelmingly passed two ordinances pushed by Emanuel that restrict protest rules and expand the mayor’s power to police the summits. Among other things, they increase fines for violating parade rules, allow the city to deputize police officers from outside Chicago for temporary duty and change the requirements for obtaining protest permits. Large signs and banners must now be approved, sidewalk protests require a permit, and permission for “large parades” will only be granted to those with a $1 million liability insurance policy. These are permanent changes in city law.

Theoretically, people can now be fined for not getting a permit before holding a picket line or spontaneous protest, according to Jeffrey Frank of the National Lawyers Guild, which is providing legal support to groups protesting the summits. “How can that not be chilling?” says Frank. “I don’t think people ought to be subject to the discretion of police officers in terms of their First Amendment rights.”

[Report1212]

1. I read this as "The Congo" in the OP mistakingly..

Not sure how mistaken I was now

[think]

2. If you can't beat them into submission regulate them into submission /nt

[Bozita]

3. Chicago Buys New Riot and Aerial Surveillance Gear for NATO/G8

http://chicagoist.com/2012/02/14/city_buys_new_riot_and_surveillance.php
Chicago Buys New Riot and Surveillance Gear for NATO/G8

Chicago police officers will receive brand new face shields which will fit easily over gas masks and seal out any incoming liquids, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Emanuel administration awarded a contract worth nearly $200,000 to a Colorado company for the purchase of more than 3,000 new face shields. The contract comes as part of the city's new authority to purchase goods and services for the NATO/G8 summits in May without competitive bidding or City Council approval.

According to Fraternal Order of Police President Michael Shields, 3,000 new helmets might not be enough. Because the old helmets are thinner, weaker and liquid can seep through them, Shields would like all of the city's 9,500 patrol officers to have new equipment. He told the Sun-Times “Rioters known to attend NATO and G-8 meetings have been known to throw bags of urine and bags of feces at police. Chicago Police officers need a shield that can adapt to what is being thrown at them.”

To our knowledge, no protesters plan on bringing any kind of scatological materials to the demonstrations in May. Furthermore, while cursory searching found plenty of speculation, rumor and hyperbole about such instances, we have yet to find any actual hard evidence outside of commentary. To the contrary, a civil liberties advocate told an independent news website in December “This is part of a spectrum of information war strategies that the state uses to repress dissent.”

In addition to shiny new helmets for the summits, Chicago Police will have their helicopters equipped with new surveillance gear, along with helicopters from the fire department. In a press release, a company called Vislink announced yesterday:

The airborne units will transmit to four strategically located ground-based receiver sites providing city-wide coverage and the ability to simultaneously receive real-time images from two aircraft for viewing at the OEMC operations center. An additional three receive systems will be installed in the city’s mobile command vehicles to facilitate field operations.