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Remarks on huge Chicago protest on March 20 of this year |
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by Charles Joseph Smith
Email: charlessmith702210 (nospam) sbcglobal.net (verified)
Address: 1710 W. 106th St., Chicago, IL 60643 |
16 Apr 2004
Modified: 12:53:01 PM |
My reactions to experiencing the protest
actions of March 20, 2004 outside and around the Federal Building Complex in Downtown Chicago, marking the 1st anniversary of the mass antiwar protest in
downtown Chicago on March 2003 that
led to scores of arrests of people who
decried the U.S.'s involvement in the war in
Iraq. |
The Federal building complex down in the
heart of Downtown Chicago was a rather
tense place to hold a rally on March 20, 2004. Why? 9-11 and the new threat of terrorism in the United States by al-Qaida and other related groups caused an attitude of ratcheted security around federal buildings, and this led to the building of concrete barriers and driveway roadblocks around and outside the building complex to stop possible suicide attacks.
Still, the protestors decided that because of
the many casualties inside Iraq and the
relentless surge in IED and RPG attacks, ambushes, and kidnappings by pro-Saddam insurgents and terrorists in Iraq who are trying to stop
the handover to self-soverignty of Iraq on
June 30, 2004 (all of this occuring several
months after president Bush declared an end
to major combat operations)--they realized that this is a
perfect time to do a protest--not just at any
place--at a place that depicts the U.S.'s
usage of the military-industrial complex--
a federal building.
By 12 noon, the crowd was estimated to
be about 500--but over half an hour later,
it turned to about two or three times as
much. Then, by about 1:30 p.m., the crowd
numbered about 4,000. I saw a friend at
the protest, Duc Dang. Both of us were at
the Univ. of Illinois campus but we both
graduated. We talked for a few minutes but
I wanted to wait for the marchers to come
down Clark St. for the big rally. But there was
a 1 hour delay but I didn't know why. People
carried signs, and drums, balloons, and
even incense. It was like Lollapolooza or
Woodstock but it was a little different.
Well, I expected the security culture and I
saw it. A mobile police truck with an antenna
was placed near Jackson and Dearborn.
Then, the mounted police came in to clear
the intersections of Jackson and Dearborn
and Clark and Dearborn for the marchers.
And as soon as the marchers game, the
police came in in groves, almost all carrying
a riot shield and face shield, and some with
wooden billy clubs. This definitely resembled
the police tactics used in the Civil Rights
Movements of the 1960s and recalls the
memories of the violent clashes between
protestors and Chicago Police during the
Democratic National Convention in 1968 in
Grant Park.
Some of the police did the right thing. I saw
them using roadblocks in the form of several
stationary, white sheriff buses (those buses that have windows with mesh bars that would
carry convicts or indicted people to court trials or to prison) to block off streets on Clark
so that traffic would not clash with the protestors like that scenario on March 20
of last year. The rest of the Chicago police
blocked off Dearborn and Jackson to traffic
as well.
The weather was warm and was perfect for
an anarchist march and rally. But some
groups did not like the event. I can recall that there was an pro-American motorcycle gang
harrassing protestors with their very loud
Harley choppers on Jackson St. and also
on Dearborn St. I had recognized that since one year ago, Harley-Davidson had its
100th anniversary. I didn't know if the group
was Hell's Angels but I believe that they were for the war in Iraq. The din did not keep the
protestors out but they got the message.
I saw two helicopters--and probably three
helicopters--hovering near and above the
federal building. They could had been news
helicopters, but my best bet was that this
might be police helicopters who were watching every eye of the protestors who
marched down south on Clark St. as well
as those who were in the rally.
If you did or did not know, according to my
strong friend, Jessica Rose Pupovac (who
herself experienced the violence and protests
in the FTAA summit first-hand), Miami police
helicopters were used even on unarmed
protestors and anarchists--and anyone else who is against the FTAA summit.
Some of the Chicago police were carrying
special duffel bags. I believe that they had
stuff that would be used against protestors
in such areas as Genoa, Quebec, and Seattle and Miami.
Realizing that the Chicago police might
do the unthinkable--fire stun grenades, OC,
tear gas, tasers, and rubber and plastic bullets like
the Miami police did the quell the anti-FTAA
protestors on November 2003, I recognized
that the situation would turn dangerous.
I wasn't ready to clash with police (or, more or less or get harrassed by them) or brutalized or worse--end up in a jail cell in substandard conditions (like a Mexican jail does) and wreck my job prospects for years to come. I decided that the best bet
was to get out of the protest immediately.
(As soon as I left, the police in riot gear had
made three human barriers-- on Jackson St., another one on Dearborn, and finally, another on the east end of the west Federal building
(just west on Dearborn St.).
As I went home, sadly, there was absolutely
no broadcast coverage of the protest except
on the evening news. Fortunately, I heard that
the situation didn't blow up into a riot like
it did 2003--and there were only a few
arrests. It was not an easy decision for me
to leave but I had to keep my sanity because
the Chicago police means authority--and if
you go against authority--there is a good
chance you will be arrested or worse. I had
this "post-Jon-Burge" mentality in my mind
as I went home
(since Jon Burge was nortorious for
harrassing suspects in interrogation rooms with excessive force
in the hands of the Chicago police in the 1990s.). |
See also:
http://charlessmithpiano.tripod.com
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This work is in the public domain |
