This weekend kicks off the NATO Summit for 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.

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Massive crowds of protesters are already in Chicago and many more are currently on the road enroute for the major day of demonstrations tomorrow, Sunday May 20th.

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The lead story for early and prior to the proceedings is the arrest of three subjects who have been brought up on state terrorism charges, specifically 'Material Support For Terrorism' (a Class X Felony) the first ever for the State of Illinois.

They are:



- Brian Church, 22, of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
- Jerrd Chase, 27, of Keene, New Hampshire
- Brent Betterly, 24, who told police he resides in Massachusetts

The complaint states the following as seen in this release below:



Further the complaint details the findings of a 'no knock' property search represented as supported by a valid court order:

Quote:

'As part of their efforts, the defendants also possessed and/or constructed improvised explosive-incendiary devices and various types of dangerous weapons including a mortar gun, swords, a hunting bow, throwing stars, and knives with brass knuckle handles

Quote:

According to prosecutors, the investigation began in early May 2012 and revealed that the defendants are self-proclaimed members of the "black bloc" group, who traveled together from Florida to the Chicago area in preparation for committing terrorist acts of violence and destruction directed against different targets in protest to the NATO Summit.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local....

Bond has been set at $1.5 Million dollars each.


But the story starts to get interesting here:

Quote:

The three young men facing these serious charges were the same people who posted online a video [above] of a traffic stop wherein police interrogated them about their plans for NATO and made violent threats. Some observers think the arrest is retaliation for the posting of the video, available below.[above]

http://privacysos.org/node/659

From the CBS News Chicago:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/a....

Quote:

Kris Hermes, of the National Lawyers Guild said: “There is absolutely no evidence of molotov cocktails or any other criminal activity going on at this building.”

A tenant who agreed to host the out-of-town protesters says the police did seize his home-brew making equipment, including buckets, beer bottles and caps.

“If anybody would like some, I would like to offer them a sip of my beer,” said William Vassilakis.

The National Lawyers Guild says the warrantless raid violated their clients’ civil rights.

“It is outrageous behavior on the part of the City of Chicago,” said Sarah Gelsomino.

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It promises to be a 'complicated' and dynamic few days. More updates coming soon as the NATO weekend gets underway.

Black block? Hmmm...

More details on the terrorism charges against the three individuals: Court filing papers: Attention to highlighted portions:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local....

printable .pdf

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/35....

Anyone who has watched what has happened at any protest against powerful transnational organizations, whether UN, IMF, G8, or (name your flavor) over the last 15 years or so has seen this before. Always. Same as it ever was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKlrkBJoz....

Nightime approaches in Chicago and tensions are fast rising.

Hundreds of fully equipped riot police are taking formation at 8pm CDT as the crowd has swelled enormously in the last few hours:







Situation is forming up to possibly be an impending attempt to decapitate the demonstration and coverage ahead of the start of tomorrows NATO summit.

I dunno what the deal is here yet. Defense of those 3 individuals has brought up "entrapment," which from my understanding is basically like pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

IMO, nobody here has a ****ing clue what's going on. The ones that do, like Karl, have long left the city. What's left is leech **** army, pigs, and politicians. Maybe that makes a nasty brew for riots, but your guess is as good as mine...

The thing is if they were ACTUALLY making Molotovs, well..... yes, that's manufacturing incendiary devices, and....

And "Black Block" is known for this sort of ****, infiltrating protests and inciting violence that the rest of the people there have no intention of committing. Those people are "burn it all to the ground" anarchists folks, and it's well-known that they show up at events like this simply to stir up ****.

I can sorta see rationale for protesting things like WTO, etc., but I'm not understanding the rationale behind any major NATO protests.

Are the protesters advocating ending NATO completely, or is this supposed to be an indirect way to protest the NATO wars of the past few years?

Or, maybe "professional dissidents" just protesting for the sake of protesting?

Back in 2000 during the IMF/World Bank protest, the various groups of protesters used a warehouse as a shared staging headquarters and work center. That was where many of the signs and papier mache puppets were assembled and painted. At one point they were raided. The next thing you knew, there were arrests and reports of Molotov cocktails. Well no, there were no Molotovs. There was, however, one bottle with paint thinner that was used for cleaning paint brushes. Whenever it was not in use, a rag was stuffed in the top as a plug. It was located right by the brushes and the paint. Since that was before 9/11/2001, those protesters were set free although continually harassed.

Having one large common location had the advantage of allowing the people to interact and recognize faces. Passive nonviolence was stressed. Probably the worst injury at the 2000 IMF/World Bank protest was the result of a middle-aged press photographer being whacked in the head by a policeman for no apparent reason.

One thing that keeps coming out from these affairs is that there are usually a few people who attempt to incite vandalism, but it rarely works, in part because nobody knows them. They are outsiders, some of whom have been grabbed by legitimate protesters and handed over to the police. Another reason the vandalism doesn't work is because the protesters are there to make a point and do not want their message to be lost. The final big reason that the protesters do not engage in violence or destruction is because they are not neither violent or vandals. The common wisdom is that the troublemakers are on government payrolls.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Did not post this earlier, but is now confirmed as of 11:50pm CDT.

Chicago PD had been systematically raiding unoccupied residences of indymedia activists without search warrant all day long. They have been leaving some of the homes unsecured upon departure with alarms activated and uncancelled.

Apparently, neighbors who witnessed the raid in one location were terrified and scared by the police into reporting false all-clear 'nothing happened here' to the resident owners who called them to check/inquire about the alarm activation.

It is believed they have left hidden evesdropping devices behind in the dwellings.

At approximately 11:30pm CDT twelve (12) Chicago undercover officers made a traffic stop on the well known activist video blogger Timcast and several others. Pulled them from the vehicle at gunpoint demanding to see hands in the air. Throughly searched vehicle with no probable cause or permission from owner. Police also deleted video from cameras stored in the vehicle but failed to realize most of was data had been stored in the cloud. Recorded every identifying bit of information in their wallets including credit card numbers. Also, the owner of the vehicle believe the police marked the vehicle with some sort of identifying mark to inventory/catalog the vehicle but don't yet know how/where.

Total shakedown, unconstitutional fishing expedition, terror and intimidation tactics.

This traffic stop was captured by Tim Pool (mostly audio only) who left a recorder running w/o the police being aware and is stunning to listen to.

Go here to listen: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22716864

Other unsaved video will be attempted to be retrieved from UStream servers directly.

The police released the detainees and their vehicle after turning it inside out and then claiming, 'sorry, guess we got the wrong car'. The ID's of some detainees were never returned after their release.

Their defense lawyer says an undercover policeman brought molitovs to the apartment.

Quote:

Their defense lawyer says an undercover policeman brought molitovs to the apartment.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least...I don't think I've heard of a single terrorist arrest, where the gov was supplying the devices to be used...

Last night a police van full of riot police sped full speed through a crowded street running over numerous individuals causing multiple injuries.

A CNN News video crew was at the location and clearly caught the incident on camera:



Note: The end of that part of the story shows multiple individuals attempting to stop what the commentator states are more vans speeding through the crowd after the first had run over it's victims.

In followup to previous story of the unwarranted stop and search of of the vehicle transporting video blogger Timcast, this video of which the police did not find and delete from running video recorders has been posted to YouTube:

More NATO Summit related news:

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-cyber-at....

Quote:

CYBER ATTACKS TARGET CITY OF CHICAGO WEBSITES

CHICAGO —

The mayor's office is confirming a cyber attack against the City of Chicago's website.

Hackers are claiming credit for bringing down the cityofchicago.org site and the chicagopolice.org site.

Tweets from the cyber hackering group known as Anonymous claim responsibility.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating.

Authorities also are exploring whether the city attacks are linked to a threat to hack NATO's web site in Europe.

In other news at the start of today's protest march, WGN Television Chicago is estimating the march crowd at 10,000 by 1pm CDT and growing.

The 'bloc block' contingent has upwards of 100 participants situating themselves at the front of the march before it's departure time.


TWO MORE MEN RECEIVE TERRORISM CHARGES RELATED TO NATO SUMMIT



http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-northwes....

Quote:

According to prosecutors, he told others he was an anarchist member of Black Bloc and had "a carful of explosives" capable of taking out a highway overpass. On Tuesday, he told others he had explosives hidden in a hollowed-out Harry Potter book at his home. But a search of his Chicago residence did not turn up any explosives, authorities said.

View this link for WGN Television Live Streaming NATO Summit Coverage:

http://www.wgntv.com/news/livestreaming/

WGN Reporters on-scene are continuing to raise crowd estimates strongly disputing official estimates. To prove the point, the did a cut to this out-of-the-window shot of Michigan Ave. just a small section of the march crowd visible between the arrows (mine):




Citizen Streamer Live Coverage:

Tim Pool http://www.ustream.tv/timcast

Or select from other live streamers:

http://www.occupystreams.org/

Violence has broken out at the head of the march.

Police have compressed a large number of people into a small area and now are swinging batons at everyone. Possible head-on clash originally a plan to contain black bloc protester but has gotten out of hand. Chaotic scene.

Reports numerous injuries. Several people with broken limbs.


CONFIRMED: CHICAGO POLICE HAVE DEPLOYED LRAD DEVICE WITHIN CROWD AND ARE USING IT CURRENTLY TO ISSUE DISPERSAL COMMANDS TO MARCHERS

LRAD VS .69 cent plugs = LRAD Fail

Fox News has live feed right now FYI

As of 7:15pm CDT the NATO Chicago protest, some estimating to have grown to over 15,000 participants was effectively dismantled by a 1000 plus strong police force.



At one point, a tense confrontation between police and the 'block bloc' contingent quickly changed the mood for the worse as seen in the embedded video at this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/r....

The march had a legal permit, good until 4pm CDT. However after that time 'authorities' deemed the march as 'unlawful behavior' using the incident seen in the video above as justification to issue a dispersal order to participants rather than they face arrest or possible use of chemical tactics (tear gas).

Shortly after that time, masses of riot police moved in to enforce the expiration of the march permit, sometimes violently in some limited circumstances.



At this time, as evening approaches, there is watchful waiting as protesters attempt to regroup and plan their next move. Police are also redeploying in response.

NOTE: Interestingly, despite the above, several CTA busses transporting 100's of police officers were seen sporting signs in the windows in support of the march. Likely in response to motions by the office of Rahm Emanuel in reference to Chicago Police/Fire Pension Reform measures.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/10/e....

More to follow...

After 11pm CDT things have again turned chaotic as protesters regrouped in large numbers near Lake Street attempting to take Franklin bridge in a scene bringing back memories of the Brooklyn Bridge incident last year in New York City.

Police have promised to arrest everyone on the bridge.

Ustream image capture of protesters running onto Franklin Bridge at 11:20pm CDT as police amass nearby again positioning an LRAD device:



CPD LRAD truck moving into position:




But, apparently what diffused the situation was not the heavy rain occurring at the time, LRAD trucks or masses of riot equipped cops with tear gas, but rather, a huge contingent of Chicago Police (or?) that suddenly arrived on scene that appeared like no-other seen anytime, anywhere before.

Alternately described as 'creepy', 'assassins', etc., dressed in clothing more appropriate to an executioner and further heightened by darkness, the vision abruptly stopped marchers cold in their tracks causing them to flee. The entire crowd instantly and completely lost it's nerve and quickly evacuated the area. I was unfortunately unable to grab an image of what commentary referred to but it was evidently unimaginable and very effective.

Other than the few remaining pockets of remaining marchers who did not see it, this appears to have put a swift end to activities for the night in Chicago.

'full speed'

Really.

It looks like that bridge has Elevated tracks overhead.

Do you mean the Wells St bridge, not Franklin?

You guys have to be the worst protesters in the world...at least set something on fire.

just heard someone rang Geitners doorbell elsewhere, wow

Permits for fires weren't issued.