Mass arrests at ‘Occupy’ protest in Chicago

Published time: October 16, 2011 18:07
Edited time: October 16, 2011 22:48
A demonstrator leads a chant during a protest march down Michigan Avenue (Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP)
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An estimated 175 people were arrested by police in Chicago early on Sunday, a day that saw protests spread out from the US to Australia, Asia and Europe.

­In Chicago, roughly one-tenth of the 2,000 protesters were arrested after refusing to leave Grant Park after it closed for the day. The park famously served as the site for anti-Vietnam War protests during the 1968 Democratic convention.

The march started early Saturday evening with a rally outside the Federal Reserve Bank, and was part of what was being called a “Global Day of Occupation.” The protesters then made their way to the park, where they set up tents.

Chicago police officers said they repeatedly warned the demonstrators that they would be arrested if they refused to leave the park after it closed at 11 p.m. The warnings, however, were ignored, and about 90 minutes after police first warned the group that they were violating municipal code, the arrests began.

"It's our duty to defend our rights, our right to peacefully assemble," one protester, Brit Schulte, told the Chicago Tribune. "This is our park, and they're trying to take it away from us. We shouldn't be arrested right now."

The protesters will likely be cited for municipal violations and face fines, police said.

The protesters have rallied at the Federal Reserve for the last three weeks around the clock. They have not exhibited any violence, though many shout that the police are "the instruments of the 1 percent," referring to the movement's popular refrain.

The Chicago protest was just one in a series of demonstrations that the US and the world have witnessed in the past five weeks. Protests were held in dozens of cities, including Washington, Boston, Chicago, Rome, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.

Comments (16)

Police Brutality $$$ 19.10.2011 07:55

Bogdanov, you criticize me for being a "clueless" American, and then you show yourself not to know even the basics about conditions in the US during the 1950's.  If you want to live in the ghetto, and create race-mixed mulatto babies; that is on your dime, not mine.  
Not rich whites, but working class whites.  All you needed was a H.S. diploma, and you could get a nice job to support your family with a house and a car, and your wife didn't even have to work if she didn't want to.  Where do you think the baby-boom came from.  How could families have 9 to 17 kids if both parents had to work, and they couldn't make ends meet.
Back then, a college degree put you into the upper-middle class.  Now, even an advanced degree doesn't mean a damn thing.  You have to sell not only your skills but your soul as well, to make it in today's Corporate America.
Some people only signed up to sell their skills, and refuse to sell their souls.  If that's what it takes, then the govt need some serious reform.
If you want to trash the 1950's Eisenhower US, or if you are a ghetto-loving race-mixer, then your opinion is worth zilch&nbs p;in my book, you communist.  They were arrested in the 50's, you know.  Joe McCarthy was a national hero for what he did.  We need a new McCarthy to arrest these bankers and bring THEM to justice, too.   

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Count Cash 17.10.2011 16:53

Bogdanov, you are of course right in terms of linear thinking regarding OWS, it is my first thinking of them as well. It is if they want results they must formulate their demands and be clear, then go after the target and eliminate, to fulfill their goals. All nice stuff - they need form their lines, and then we know who is who and battle can commence. But in doing that, they would actually crystalise into the very targets that would make waging war against them easy, they would have conformed to the fight, the way the system wants it, they would be coming out of Stalingrad and lining up nicely in divisions, and then they would be wiped out. Because the system knows how to wipe that model out, it is set up to do it, with media…. In comes that very modern invention, the suitcase without a handle, now deal with that baby, or to use its modern term the virus, which has no goal other than to exist, and is difficult to deal with, But this one grows and multiplies in the host. Death can be a by product, or the patient just may lose some capacity, like not growing as much as they should, or losing a Wall Street arm or leg. Maybe no one is inventing anything, maybe they just want an amputation, and then some rules may naturally follow to prevent the same thing happening again in society. Crazy stuff or what, LOL, too much for my conservative brain!

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Bogdanov (unregistered) 17.10.2011 15:11

By the way, I would not be surprised, if it turned out that the American Democrats are behind this OWS and this is their "homework" for the coming elections -- preparing the "sheep" to vote for Obama again. The Change Version 2.0, I would say...

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