City Threatens To Pull Permit For Nurses Protest

By aaroncynic in News on May 9, 2012 4:40PM

City officials plan to pull the permit they granted months ago to National Nurses United for a march on May 18, two days before the NATO summit, the Chicago Tribune reports. Though the logistics were agreed on months ago, the city back-pedaled yesterday, saying that unless the union changes its original route from Streeterville to Daley Plaza to one that ends at the Petrillo Music Shell, it will deny the permit. The newly proposed route would avoid the Loop altogether.

In a letter to organizers, officials said the change was needed because the NNU recently added Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Tom Morello as a speaker and performer. According to WLS, city officials argue that because of Morello's performance, crowd numbers could increase from a predicted 1,000 to 5,000, which would exceed Daley Plaza's capacity.

In a press release, NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro said “Apparently the mayor thinks nurses and Tom Morello are a national security threat. How shameful for this last minute attempt to squelch this event - especially given that the G-8 leaders have long since decided to flee from the public view rather than hear our voices.” The march and rally were planned to call for a “Robin Hood” tax on Wall Street financial institutions.

National Nurses United will hold a press conference outside Mayor Emanuel's office tomorrow at noon, where they will outline details of a lawsuit they plan to file.