Protesters in Chicago rally at Obama campaign HQ
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E-mail Xinhua, May 22, 2012
Two people were arrested Monday afternoon for involving in a protest at President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago, the U.S. National Lawyers Guild (NLG) said.
![Protestors hold banners outside the Prudential Building which houses the reelection headquarters for President Barack Obama during a demonstration against the policies of NATO Summit in Chicago, the United States, on May 21, 2012. [Zhang Baoping/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120522/000cf1bdd03f11254e9849.JPG "Protestors hold banners outside the Prudential Building which houses the reelection headquarters for President Barack Obama during a demonstration against the policies of NATO Summit in Chicago, the United States, on May 21, 2012. [Zhang Baoping/Xinhua]") |
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Protestors hold banners outside the Prudential Building which houses the reelection headquarters for President Barack Obama during a demonstration against the policies of NATO Summit in Chicago, the United States, on May 21, 2012. [Zhang Baoping/Xinhua] |
The 500-strong protesters were originally scheduled to protest in front of the Boeing headquarters at midnight on Monday, but were blocked by police. They demanded an end to the wars in Afghanistan, Middle-Eastern and African countries.
About 160 police officers were visible on the street. Several protesters held flags upside-down, a universal signal of distress, originating from the Merchant Navy in the American Revolution at the end of the 18th century.
Joe Ios Baker, an organizer of Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda, explained to Xinhua why the rally later came to Obama's headquarters.
"He's the commander in chief, he's hosting NATO (summit in Chicago), if there's one person in the country who can bring the troops out of Afghanistan, it's him," Baker said.
"The last three years has been pretty much a continuation of the wars of the Bush regime... and spilling out those wars to Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia," Code Pink confounder Medea Benjamin told Xinhua.
NLG spokesperson Sarah Gelsomino said Chicago only granted permission to one march on Sunday, while the police said at least part of the Monday peaceful march to Obama HQ was also permitted.
Protesters held the largest demonstration of the weekend in Chicago on Sunday for the NATO summit, marching from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center, where Obama and other world leaders were meeting.
"There were two historic things that happened this weekend ... 15,000 people protesting against war... and the second thing was a historic display of Chicago police' s violence," Baker said. "Whenever NATO goes everywhere and violence seems to emanate from them."
The two-day 25th NATO summit, which opened on Sunday, drew representatives from some 50 countries, including leaders of the 28 members of the military alliance.
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