Chicago Protesters Calls for End of Abuse by Police, Feds (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Black Lives Matter activists and protesters go to court to avoid Portland-style federal response to protests, while other groups say CPD has abused protesters.
As federal agents prepared to come to Chicago with the stated goal of stopping violence, activist groups voiced fear that those forces would be used to quell protests against police brutality and sued federal officials Thursday to prevent the kinds of civil rights violations alleged during protests in Portland, Oregon, ChicagoTribune reported.
At the same time, a different coalition of activist groups complained separately in federal court that Chicago police have abused and insulted protesters for weeks. The groups demanded the city restrain the cops and threatened litigation if Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration doesn’t move to stop the alleged abuse.
The court filings spelled out concerns that President Donald Trump is using federal agents to attack protesters who oppose him. They also illustrated the ways local protests over policing have worsened the already tense relationship between Chicago cops and those who allege that they hurt minorities with impunity.
Trump announced Wednesday he planned to send a “surge of federal law enforcement” to Chicago, among other cities. Attorney General William Barr said hundreds of federal agents could take part and engage in “classic crime-fighting” actions such as investigating homicides, gangs, gun crime and drug trafficking organizations. The new agents will include members of the FBI, US Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security, among others.
In that city, federal agents have fired rubber bullets and tear gas, and their presence has intensified protests that started after the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in late May.
Concerns over a Portland-style response run through the lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court by groups including Black Lives Matter Chicago. The suit alleges that Trump is sending agents to Chicago in an effort to “intimidate and falsely arrest civilians who are exercising their constitutional right to speak and to assemble.”
The groups — including Black Abolitionist Network, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America and GoodKids MadCity — seek an injunction preventing federal authorities from “interfering in or otherwise policing lawful and peaceful protests” in Chicago or arresting people without cause.
At a news conference Thursday in Federal Plaza, activists pointed to Portland as evidence of what could come this weekend in Chicago. Still, they called on people to continue to protest.
Activists pushed back on the claim that surging gun violence calls for more law enforcement officers, arguing that community investment, not more policing, will reduce violence.
“What we need is funding, what we need is investment in Black and brown communities, we don’t need police, we don’t need feds coming in,” said Alycia Kamil, of GoodKids MadCity. “As Black and brown people who are already targeted, already under surveillance, I fear for my life.”
Barr is one of the federal officials the lawsuit names as a defendant. Spokespersons for the U.S. Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment.
A Portland federal judge on Thursday signed a two-week temporary restraining order barring federal officers from using force or taking other actions against journalists or legal observers to the protests.