By: Ashmar Mandou
The first day that they are legally allowed, protesters filed applications for permits for a demonstration against the G8 and NATO summits, both scheduled for May 2012 at McCormick Place. After a confrontation at a meeting of the Public Building Commission meeting last month, Mayor Rahm Emanuel reversed a decision to close Daley Plaza to all protest during the summits. “The City must do more to guarantee civil liberties,” said Andy Thayer, member of the Coalition Against the NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda. Currently, organizers are planning for a Saturday, May 19th rally at Daley Plaza, followed by a march to the McCormick Place.
Members of the permit delegation include political consultant and columnist Don Rose, anti-war and gay rights activist Andy Thayer, feminist and peace activist Pat Hunt, Puerto Rican community activist Alejandro Molina of National Boriqua Human Rights Network, and other members of CANG8. In recent months, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has threatened mass arrests of protesters at the same time that the City has moved to stop efforts to grant permits to protest during the G8/NATO meetings. “I think we need to really push back on the mayor on this one,” said Thayer.
Activists have also criticized Emanuel’s proposals to create harsh requirements for downtown demonstrations, requirements activists describe as ‘ridiculously burdensome.’ Those new requirements, if passed, would include $1 million insurance requirements, a twenty-fold increase in fines for new ‘violations’, and potential 10-day jail sentences for those new ‘violations.’ Other requirements state that as a condition of getting a permit, organizers would have to ‘agree to reimburse the city for any damage to the public way or to city property arising out of or caused by the parade.’ Protesters would also be required to submit a ‘line of march, which shall list all parade units in numerical order, with a description and an estimate of the size or length of each unit.’ The City council is scheduled to consider the new ordinance in their next meeting on January 18.
