Chicago Police Raid Activist Headquarters as President Addresses Convention\r\nPress Conference and Demonstration Planned at Police Headquarters\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/p>
PRESS RELEASE\r\n \r\n<\/p>
August 29, 1996
\r\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Contact: 312\/278-0775 (James or Vic, Autonomous Zone)\r\n 312\/243-8342 (CounterMedia) \r\n \r\n <\/p>
CHICAGO POLICE RAID ACTIVIST HEADQUARTERS \r\n AS PRESIDENT ADDRESSES CONVENTION<\/b>\r\n <\/p>
Press Conference and Demonstration Planned at Police Headquarters\r\n \r\n<\/p>
CHICAGO- As President Clinton took the stage at the Democratic National\r\nConvention tonight, Chicago police raided the site of Active Resistance, a\r\ncounter-convention conference organized by the local activist group,\r\nAutonomous Zone. A press conference and demonstration will be held at\r\n1:00pm on Friday, August 30 at the 14th District Police Station, 2150 N. \r\nCalifornia Ave.\r\n \r\n<\/p>
At approximately 8:00pm tonight, numerous police vans gathered in the\r\nstreet and 5-8 uniformed officers forced their way into the building at\r\n2010 W. Carroll, which has served as a central meeting site for the\r\nconference. Several conference participants were pepper-sprayed; two were\r\nhospitalized. Officers reportedly searched through personal belongings\r\nand confiscated radio equipment and papers from the site. Conference\r\nparticipants report that when they asked to see a search warrant, officers\r\ntold them a search warrant wasn't necessary. No arrests have been\r\nreported. \r\n \r\n<\/p>
As officers entered from the back of the building, they ordered conference\r\nparticipants there to sit down. Those who did not sit down were pushed\r\ndown. One officer threatened to push a woman down the back stairs of the\r\nbuilding. Conference participant Lynn Harrington was kicked and, when she\r\nasked officers \"what are you doing?,\" was pepper-sprayed in the face at\r\nclose range. Conference participants report that they repeatedly\r\nrequested a search warrant and officers' badge numbers, but were not\r\nprovided with either. Participants were told they were not being arrested\r\nor detained. But when one woman and her three year-old son asked if they\r\ncould leave, officers denied them permission. On their way out, officers\r\nreportedly pepper-sprayed participants indiscriminately. Conference\r\nparticipant Alex Berkman was sprayed repeatedly at close range and was\r\nhospitalized. \r\n \r\n<\/p>
Police vans then proceeded to another Active Resistance meeting site at\r\n343 N. Western. By the time officers arrived at the second site,\r\ncounter-convention participants had already removed their belongings and\r\nevacuated the building. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
Active Resistance has been host to over 700 activists from throughout\r\nNorth America and Europe who came to Chicago to attend workshops and\r\ndiscussion groups on issues ranging from community organizing to\r\nalternative economics. Conference participants also organized today's\r\nFestival of the Oppressed, a peaceful street-theater procession with\r\ncostumes and colorful puppets made by participants during the week. \r\n \r\n<\/p>
The police raids this evening come at the end of a day of 14 arrests of\r\nactivists and independent media makers. Eight conference participants\r\nwere arrested at the Festival of the Oppressed procession, including the\r\nparade's traffic safety coordinator. Six videographers working with\r\nCounterMedia, a coalition of alternative media makers, were arrested while\r\ncovering the procession. Their cameras were confiscated and some of their\r\nfilm was destroyed by arresting officers. Videographer Jeff Perlstein,\r\nwho was arrested earlier in the week and participated in CounterMedia's\r\npress conference this morning addressing police harassment of independent\r\nmedia, was arrested again this afternoon. He reports witnessing an\r\nofficer smash his camera on the ground. Charges have not yet been\r\nreleased. \r\n \r\n<\/p>\n","contact":"chuck@tao.ca","link":"http:\/\/www.infoshop.org\/","address":"http:\/\/www.infoshop.org\/","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"An example of how some things don't change. An old press release about police repression of an anarchist conference held at the same time as the 1996 DNC convention","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2000\/08\/anarchists.html","filesize":"3.9 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2000\/08\/1918.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}