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NEWS & LETTERS, JULY 2003
Hearings: war at homeChicago--On June 17 the Chicago City Council, under the urging of Rogers Park Alderman Joe Moore, held hearings on the police misconduct that ensued at the end of the massive anti-war march held in Chicago on March 20. Moore participated in the protest, but left after the rally. The march and rally was not only in response to the war, but in response to an anti-war resolution sponsored by Moore and approved by the City Council with only one dissenting vote, just before the February city-wide election. However, out of 50 members Moore, Helen Shiller and Richard Muñoz were the only aldermen present at the hearings. This well planned and coordinated March protest began with 5,000 people at Federal Plaza. After a rally, the marchers headed towards Michigan Avenue, an upscale shopping district in the East Loop. However, about 10,000 more people had joined and Chicago police directed the marchers to Lake Shore Drive, a major artery connecting the north and south sides of Chicago with its center and with each other. The people who stayed with the march until Chicago Avenue were trapped. A lucky few took the Oak Street underpass before police blocked that escape. For about an hour the police made arbitrary selections of those who might leave; hapless clients released from Northwestern hospital stumbled into the mess; various tourists, shoppers and others struggled with the hyperbolic story of their entrapment. "I heard the commands, 'Officers, take one step forward! Officers, step forward!' When helicopters came over, it was clear they had a plan,” said Makalani Abisa in the hearing. The ordeal of the people who got arrested was extraordinary. All were crowded into both wagons and lockups. “The police at the station were mean and nasty. We had to hold up coats to go to bathroom and no water. There were 36 women in a cell who took care of each other. It was a good experience,” said Beth Lynch Giddings. About 550 people were arrested on March 20 and about 250 more were detained in the police encirclement. Almost all were accused of reckless conduct. By June 19 the number of people subject to charges had gone from over 200 to only 20, the rest of the charges having been thrown out and many of the arrestees being freed without charges. Two more were arrested at the follow-up demonstration on March 21. As of this writing, the status of the 20 people facing charges is not known. --January |
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