Committee to Stop FBI Repression Condemns Chicago Police Arrests of NATO Protesters

Late Wednesday night, May 16th, Chicago police broke down the door of an apartment and arrested nine activists who have been held without charges. Other NATO protesters have also been harassed and/or arrested by the Chicago police in the days leading up to the NATO summit in Chicago.

Despite the opposition of the majority of the American people to the U.S.-NATO war and occupation in Afghanistan, Congress has just voted by a two to one margin to continue the war. More and more the government is resorting to using the FBI, police, Grand Juries, and the courts to repress a growing protest movement against the war and growing economic inequality that serves the 1%, not the 99%.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) condemns these raids that are designed to disrupt organizing for the protests and to discourage people from participating by portraying organizers as violent.  We urge all people who are opposed to the U.S.-NATO war and occupation in Afghanistan to attend the permitted march on Sunday, May 20th.

We also want to extend our solidarity to those who have been arrested.  In the days leading up the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 2008, police infiltrated the anti-war coalitions that were planning protests at the RNC.  Right before the convention and protests were to begin, police arrested eight activists with the RNC Welcoming Committee.  In 2010, the FBI raided and served Grand Jury subpoenas to 14 activists (later expanded to 23) who helped to organize the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.  These raids and subpoenas led to the formation of the CSFR and a nationwide fight back against FBI repression of antiwar and international solidarity activists.  Then in 2011, the FBI and Los Angeles sheriffs broke down the door and arrested long-time Chicano activist Carlos Montes, who also protested the RNC.

No to NATO and War!
No to FBI and Police Repression!