Alright, here is my attempt to write about my experience at the Anti-war protest March 20th ( Thursday ) in downtown Chicago. I left work at 4:30 to get to Federal Plaza ( the site of the rally ) by 5 PM. When I got there at just after 5 the plaza was already packed with people. I spend the first hour or so listening to the various speakers and walking around the plaza taking pictures of the many different groups and people there. When the speakers were done and everyone was moving around getting ready to march I managed to get a decent spot on top of some traffic barriers to take pictures from. I took several pictures as everyone moved in the street and the march began. We headed east from the fed toward Michigan Ave. At Michigan we turned north for one block and then east again to Lake Shore Drive. We took over the drive without incident and without any problems from the Chicago police. We headed north on the now empty northbound side of LSD. After only a few blocks people started to spread out and onto the southbound side of the drive. Within minutes we were weaving our way though the stopped cars on the southbound side. Just before we reached the Navy Pier bridge the police attempted to stop us for the first time. The people that were leading the march saw the police organizing to stop us, and yelled for everyone to speed up and even run, which we did. We quickly moved past the point where the police intended to stop us and then went back to walking again so the rest of the group could catch up. We crossed the Navy Pier bridge and just on the other side a much larger and more organized group of police blocked our path and halted our progress. They blocked both sides of the drive and moved everyone back onto the northbound side. After only a few minutes of waiting and chanting the police line started to move back allowing us to continue without passing them. For several blocks the police line controlled our progress but no one seemed to mind. We once again spread out into the southbound lanes where we could have more interaction with the drivers there. When we reached the s-curves at Oak St. Beach the leaders decided to turn south onto Michigan Ave. We crossed through the park there and were immediately blocked on three sides by riot police. A standoff ensued here. The chants became directed at the police, and it was obvious that the group was growing tired of being blocked and controlled by the police. Since I was near the front and the police line ( so I could take pictures ) I could see that at one point the riot police put their gas masks on. With a crowd of nearly 10,000 people behind us, and hundreds of police in front of us, there was no where we could go, so we sat down and waited for the worst. People were tearing up extra tee shirts and giving the cloth out to use as makeshift gas masks. I wrapped a sweatshirt I had with me around my face and waited. Word soon came from somewhere that since we were blocked from Michigan Ave, we would go back south on LSD, the way we had just come. So we slowly moved back onto LSD and headed south. After two blocks we turned west onto Chicago Ave to try to reach Michigan Ave again. I rushed to catch up with the front of the group again. The police had already massed to block us at Michigan Ave. I climbed onto a concrete platform near the northeast corner of Chicago and Michigan to take more pictures. There was a definite feeling among the other people on this platform that things would end here, and that they would probably not end well.
There were a few individuals in the front of the group in the street that began yelling at the police and taunting them. Something happened ( which we could not see from where we were ) and the police dived into the front of the crowd. Several people were dragged away. This only provoked the crowd further. There was no official instructions to disperse. Let me say that again, we were never told to disperse or face arrest. The police began moving down the street arresting people as they went. As we ( the people on the platform ) were well away from the street and not chanting or yelling we thought that we could just wait until things were over and then leave. How wrong we were. Only minutes later a group of riot police in the street saw us there taking pictures and video and quickly rushed over. We were ordered down from the platform and up against a nearby wall. The police began arresting everyone in the group I was with. I was pressed against the wall and my hands were bound with plastic “zip-tie” type handcuffs. The zip-tie was very painful, but I feel lucky that mine was not as tight as some others. We were led to a Cook County Sheriff’s Bus and searched briefly before being loaded into it. We waited there on the bus for approximately an hour.
When the bus finally moved, we could see lines of people still being arrested, and at the same time hear the cheers of those still in the crowd. The bus took us to the police station on 115th St. South. It took about 30 minutes to get there. The bus parked outside the police station and we waited an additional 30 minutes for a total of 2 hours on the bus. We were taken off the bus and lead into the station between lines of officers making jokes about “dirty hippies”, “peace loving cowards”, and saying things like “The war already started, why protest now?”, “How do you feel about the war now?” etc.. We waited for a few minutes before being searched. We were told to empty our pockets, take off coats, sweatshirts, etc., take the laces our of ours shoes, and remove all rings, watches, and piercing jewelry. More specifically, I was told to “take all that crap out” of my face. We were then moved to cells. There were 14 of us in a holding cell meant for 1 person. We all had to sit with our knees pulled up to our chests because there was not enough room to stretch out. Since we had no idea how long we would be there and nothing else to do we talked. We talked about what each person did, why they were there, what we did for fun, basically we talked about anything that came to mind. We discussed religion, politics, and other deep subjects that you wouldn’t normally talk about. Arrest papers were filled out for each one of us, and we were told that we were being charged with Reckless conduct and additional charges were possible. Gradually through the night names were called out and those people were taken away. We didn’t know if they were released or transferred. Finally at around 5 AM, an officer came and told us that since none of us had done anything violent that all the charges would be dropped and we would be released once the paperwork was complete. It took until just after 11 AM before the final 6 people in my cell including myself were released. We were some of the last ones to be released. As we passed the cell holding the organizers of the march they cheered for us. The entire ordeal lasted about 14 hours, from 9 PM Thursday to 11 AM Friday.
It wasn’t an experience that I would want to repeat, but all in all not that bad. I don’t ever intend to go to a protest with the intention of getting arrested, but there is a quote that says, “In an un-just world, the only place for a just man is a prison.” I protested because of what I believe in, and was arrested without committing any crime. I am proud of what I did, and given the chance I wouldn’t change what happened.
Whatever you believe about this war, that is your opinion and you are free to have it. I won’t put down your beliefs, so please don’t put down mine. TT

Tags: arrested, chicago, protest