Protest Planning for G8, NATO Summits Underway

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 29, 2011 6:20PM

Police and activists are already drawing lines in the sand regarding next year’s G8 and NATO summits in Chicago.

Last month, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the Police Department was already planning for protests during the spring 2012 meetings after groups applied for permits. Joe Iosbaker, an anti-war activist targeted by the FBI last October, said those permits still haven’t materialized.

Iosbaker told the Tribune, “They told me they would get back to me in two weeks to let me know at least that we were in the process of getting the permit. That was nine weeks ago.” City officials say organizers will not be able to apply for permits until the first of the year and Cook County officials have been silent.

As Spring 2012 draws closer, we expect plenty more posturing from both city officials and demonstrators. Even though organizers have already tried to assure officials that protests will be peaceful, McCarthy is already planning on mass arrests from next May. Given that the city lost a class action lawsuit over the last time people were arrested en masse during protests against the Iraq war, some might see this as an attempt to quell dissenters. Since Mayor Emanuel wants to use this as an opportunity to show off the city to the international community, it makes sense he would use everything at his disposal to keep people with less positive things to say away from the event.