Chicago police seize on anti-war, NATO protest to press frame-up

[Shih-Yu Chou]

Chicago police seize on anti-war,
NATO protest to press frame-up
(front page)

BY ALYSON KENNEDY
CHICAGO—Thousands of students and working people marched to protest
the U.S. war in Afghanistan May 20. The actions coincided with the
opening of a two-day NATO summit here. Cops seized on the
demonstration to frame up five youth on “terrorist” conspiracy charges
and vilify the protest.

Thousands demonstrated near McCormick Place, the site of the NATO
meeting. A focus of the discussion among representatives of the major
imperialist powers was how to scale down their troops in Afghanistan.

“I don’t support the war in Afghanistan,” Richard Freund, a retired
member of the Machinists union from Fond Du Lac, Wis., told the
Militant. “I thought things would change when Obama got in.”

Various contingents were prominent at the action, including some 100
Filipino youth representing several organizations around the country;
25 Pakistanis from the Chicago branch of Tehreek-e-Insaf, a Pakistani
political party; supporters of the Muslim Solidarity Committee; and
about 60 demanding freedom for Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar
López Rivera.

“We came to bring awareness about the longest held political prisoner
in the U.S.,” said 22-year-old Jay Rivera, referring to López.

Some 40 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars took the stage and
threw their war medals toward McCormick Place.

In addition, a contingent of some 100 anarchists dressed in black with
scarves covering their faces participated. At one point they charged
through the crowd trying to get to the front of the march.

Cop frame-up and smear
Four days before the demonstration, cops and FBI agents raided an
apartment building in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Breaking down doors
with guns drawn, they arrested nine involved in protests leading up to
the summit. After 48 hours, six were released without charges.

Jared Chase, 27, Brent Beterly, 24, and Brian Church, 22, were charged
with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for
terrorism, and possession of an explosive incendiary device, reported
Reuters. They were indicted under an Illinois anti-terrorism law never
used before. It was passed following the bombing of the World Trade
Center in 2001. Their bond was set at $1.5 million each.

Prosecutors allege the three were planning to attack the campaign
headquarters of President Barack Obama, the house of Mayor Rahm
Emanuel, police stations and financial institutions in downtown
Chicago.

“The individuals we charged are not peaceful protesters, they are
domestic terrorists,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez
asserted at a news conference a day before the anti-war demonstration.

Chicago National Lawyers Guild attorneys representing the three said
that they were entrapped by informants or undercover police. “From
what we’ve learned, we believe it is a setup,” Michael Deutsch, Guild
attorney, told the Chicago Tribune.

On the eve of the protest, prosecutors announced charges against two
others—Mark Neiweem, 28, and Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24.

Neiweem was charged for allegedly trying to obtain explosives based on
a discussion he had with an “associate” about making a pipe bomb and
writing a list of material necessary to do so, reported the New York
Times. Senakiewicz was charged with “falsely making a terrorist
threat,” the Times reported, for allegedly claiming he had homemade
explosives. Nothing was turned up in a search of his home.

News of the arrests was splashed across area media, smearing the
planned anti-war march and intimidating people from attending.

“I tried to bring some friends with me but they were scared with all
the news about violence,” David Velez, who came to the May 20 march,
told the Militant.

When plans for protests at the summits were announced, Mayor Emanuel
pressed for new restrictions on civil liberties. The City Council
complied, passing new ordinances providing for increased use of
surveillance cameras, new restrictions and higher fees for parades and
demonstrations, and empowering the police superintendent to “deputize”
out-of-state police officers.

At the protest thousands of Chicago cops, FBI and Secret Service
agents lined the march route and monitored protesters’ activities.
After the march ended, police dressed in riot gear severely beat
several protesters with batons.

Jimmy, a neighbor of the three men arrested in Bridgeport, was
originally not planning to attend the rally but “decided to come
because if this could happen to me and my neighbors it can happen to
anyone,” he said. Asking that his full name not be used, he said about
50 cops entered the building and went through apartments, including
his own.

Laura Anderson contributed to this article.