(NEW YORK) MintPress — Just in case 3,100 Chicago police officers are not enough to uphold law and order in the city during this weekend’s NATO summit, hundreds more from Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC will be on hand to help them. Seven hundred troopers from the Illinois State Police will also be in the Windy City to provide support in the field.
Thousands of protesters, including Occupy groups, unions and anti-war activists, are expected to descend on Chicago, but they have insisted the demonstrations will be peaceful.
Still, it seems the Chicago Police Department (CPD) is leaving nothing to chance. In recent months, the Chicago police have spent over $1 million on riot gear, including a controversial long-range acoustic device (LRAD), a sound cannon designed to cause severe pain to those in its direct path.
“This is simply a risk management tool, as the public will receive clear information regarding public safety messages and any orders provided by police,” said Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton.
But during its first appearance at a U.S. protest, during the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in 2009, police used the LRAD as a crowd deterrent, blasting sound waves at demonstrators. There are ongoing complaints that it caused some people to suffer permanent damage.
A university lecturer from Pittsburgh, Karen Piper, is suing the city. “This is a device that has the capability to inflict permanent hearing loss on people” said her lawyer, Vic Walczak. “It should not be used outside the battlefield.”
New rules and regulations
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is also taking steps to combat the protesters. He has already ushered new ordinances through the city council that are designed to crack down on organized action.
They include an increased number of surveillance cameras across the city, increases in parade permit fees and heavier fines for violating parade regulations; keeping public parks closed longer than usual each day; and requiring “large parades” to take out $1 million in liability insurance to get permits and organizers 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.”
“The ordinances, combined with Chicago’s history of spying on political activists, do not bode well for how the city will treat protesters at the upcoming NATO summit,” said the director of the National Lawyers Guild, Heidi Boghosian.
Emanuel did agree to drop an initial proposal to increase fines for resisting arrest. Still, a press release issued by Occupy Chicago called the other ordinances “a significant attack on democratic rights.”
And the group is adopting a defiant stance, announcing, “Mayor Emanuel, you’ll see us in the streets of Chicago: our streets.”
Action-packed week
Indeed, Occupy Chicago’s press committee held a conference last week to preview the week of protests. The various activities have been planned by the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty, or CANG8, a loose organization that includes Occupy Chicago.
The main action will be a rally followed by a march to McCormick Place, the convention center where the summit is being held, on May 20. According to the Chicago coordinator for the anti-war group ANSWER, John Beachan, the “main demands” are for the U.S. and NATO to leave Afghanistan as well as “for no war in Iran, and money for jobs and education and not for war.”
Members of Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America also plan to hand back their service medals to NATO generals in protest against ongoing wars.
Occupy Chicago also has plans for a march to shut down Boeing’s main office on May 21, in opposition to the government defense contracts the company receives.
In the meantime, there are growing signs of the extra security going into place in time for the arrival of NATO delegates this weekend. Extra police are on patrol all around the Loop financial district and parking restrictions have started going into effect near McCormick Place.
And eight anti-NATO protesters have already been arrested, charged with trespassing at the building that houses President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters.
Stay tuned for MintPress News’ on the ground coverage of the NATO protests beginning May 18.