Dutch Motorcycle Gang Members Join Kurds Against ISIS

October 16, 2014 - The Netherlands, also known as Holland, has some bad-ass biker dudes. One of them, a notorious band of brothers called "No Surrender," has already branched out internationally. The Dutch bikers (citizens of Holland are called Dutch, for those of you who don't know) are just itching to bash ISIS and bring some tough justice to Syria and Iraq.

Posted to Twitter by @KoerdenNL, October 9

Three members of  No Surrender who have military backgrounds already went to Iraq and Syria last week to help Kurdish troops fight Islamic State (IS). That would have been illegal just days ago, but their government has given them a green light. This is not an official No Surrender action, however.

BBC News reports that No Surrender's leader, Klaas Otto, says the men went to fight on their own, independently of their club. 

Otto told Dutch broadcaster Omroep Brabant, "They are trained guys with lots of experience - with foreign missions," and that the three volunteer fighters "are extremely disciplined. They don't drink any alcohol, not even on club evenings." Of their motivation, he said, "They wanted to do something when they saw the pictures of the beheadings."

"The story emerged after photos began circulating on social media," says BBC (see photo above,  video below). "One shows a man dressed in green military fatigues, clutching a Kalashnikov, sitting alongside a Kurdish fighter."

AFP reports that Holland's public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin said, "Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable, now it's no longer forbidden," public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP

Klaas Otto, No Surrender

"You just can't join a fight against the Netherlands," he told AFP after reports emerged that Dutch bikers from the No Surrender gang were fighting IS insurgents alongside Kurds in northern Iraq.
The head of No Surrender, Klaas Otto, told state broadcaster NOS that three members who traveled to near Mosul in northern Iraq were from Dutch cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Breda.

It's illegal for citizens of Holland to join ISIS (Islamic State) because it's considered to be a terrorist organization. And it is still against the law for Dutch citizens to join the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) because it's considered to be a terrorist organization by Holland and many other countries. De Bruin pointed out that Dutch citizens fighting on the Kurdish side could still be in serious legal trouble if they commit crimes such as torture or rape. "But this is also happening a long way away and so it'll be very difficult to prove," said De Bruin. (Wink, wink.)

No Surrender is not the first motorcycle club whose members have fought against ISIS in Syria, however. 







Also See: 

• Scary Dutch Biker Gang Versus... ISIS? Bustle.com
• No Surrender's website
• Meet the Kurdish Motorcycle Gang Helping Syrian Refugees in Iraq VICE News

A Little Reminder of the Left's Unhinged Hatred

by Warner Todd Huston With all the tales in the Old Media of the supposed violence committed by Tea Partiers going on since Obama's takeover of our nation's healthcare system, I thought it might be instructive to recall how hate-filled the unhinged left is in America today. A year ago, the good folks at Zomblog assembled a great series of photos showing the mental derangement exhibited by the human detritus at those once ubiquitous anti-war rallies that the distempered left hosted so often between the years 2003 and 2009… you know, those anti-war rallies that totally disappeared after Obama took office even as the wars rage on? Yeah, THOSE anti-war rallies. In any case, if the left and the Old Media want to pretend that Tea Partiers are nothing but filled with hate, perhaps they should get a look at some of these photos? Of course, the fact is, none of this "violence" has been tracked to anyone in the Tea Party movement… but let's not let facts get in the way of the Old Media's good stories, eh? As self-interested Congressmen try to fool the public into thinking that Tea Partiers yelled the "N" word at them, even as not one shred of proof exists that it ever happened, let's be reminded of what real hatred looks like…

Let's start out with a sign printed that depicts President Bush being hanged.

Then there is this decrepit hippy wannabe saying that Bush should be guillotined

Some halfwits that imagined that Bush could actually destroy the earth, er sumpthin

Nice shirt, you juvenile twit. Here are a pile more...

And these are just the anti-Bush signs! These photos don't include the many thousands of signs that announce support of communism, socialism, and other anti-American ideals. These signs also don't take into account the many thousands of signs at these idiot anti-war rallies that denigrate Jews and come to the aid of the terrorist "Palestinians." Not to mention that none of the signs pictured above reveal the outright hatred of the entire U.S. as an "imperialist" or as a "terrorist" nation. That would take up dozens of other posts, so I just focused on the Bush Derrgangement Syndrome placards. Remember folks, the left is filled with a venomous hate that nearly consumes them. The Tea Party folks are pikers compared to the unhinged left. And can you remember the Old Media ever publishing these sort of photos during Bush's eight years in office? Nope, me neither. Also see Warner's blog Publius' Forum. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Obama's Bush Bashing Blame-O-Rama

Blame Bush! That's the unofficial mantra of the Democrat Party, and Barack Obama is not immune to the pyschosis. Michael Swartz points out that blaming Bush is a hollow that has little - if any - substance this late in the game. Swartz writes that "since his swearing in on January 20 Barack Obama has continued to blame his predecessor for 'inherited' problems and the President may indeed have had a few legitimate complaints." Obama's eagerness to blame the previous administration for current woes, however, is hypocritical. Swartz addresses points this out, noting Obama's hypocrisy: Yet he’s been unwilling to change many Bush-era policies, particularly in the realm of national security. Obama has also chosen to ramp up the war in Afghanistan while continuing the withdrawal from Iraq begun in the latter stages of President Bush’s term. As Commander-in-Chief President Obama has the perfect right to halt these military endeavors but chosen against complete withdrawal, frustrating his support base on the antiwar Left to no end. Full Post at NetRight Nation... As for the war that Obama inherited, it should be remembered that both presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon inherited a war in Viet Nam from a previous administration - that of John Kennedy. Both Johnson and Nixon continued that war, escalating it exponentially from the Kennedy days. Whereas Obama shows no sign at this point of escalating the war effort in either Iraq or Afghanistan, he is showing a deadly similarity to Johnson and Nixon in one crucial way: His willingness to stay in a war without a willingess or the fortitude to actually win it. That cost Johnson his presidency when the Democrat Party made it clear to him that he would not get their support for nomination to a second term. Johnson decided to not seek a second term. Obama has apparently not learned the lesson of Viet Nam: Don't start (or engage in) a war that you have no intention of winning. Democrat and liberal voters are growing more and more frustrated with Obama every week over broken promises, not the least of which is his action - or inaction - regarding our overseas military engagements. Obama might want to get to work now on a withdrawal speech. No, not withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan, but withdrawal from the 2012 presidential election. It's time for Obama to stop whining and deflecting responsibility, or to get out of the way. Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

AC/DC Thunderstruck With Real Airstrikes! Hell Yeah!

WARNING: Video has some, uh, cuss words (f--- and s---, oh my.) WARNING: Liberals will be nauseated by this excellent depiction of evil-doers being blown to hell by US military superiority. Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Iraq More Democratic Than China Today

On Saturday, January 31, millions of people in Iraq enthusiastically turned out to excercise their still-new democratic freedom to vote for the candidates of their choice. No longer living in a dictatorship, the people of Iraq are determined to never lose their democracy. (A quick note of thanks to President Bush and all of the men and women of the US Armed Forces.) "Many people have seen Iraq as a dictatorship, but today that has changed," he said, casting his ballot in Baghdad. "Others are saying this is a sectarian government, but this isn't true. We can't be a dictatorship again and we won't be." Full Story at The Observer... Even Al Jazeera has a happy report on video (linked here and embedded below). Meanwhile, in China, democracy is faring less well than in Iraq. As another report from Al Jazeera shows (link here), nothing much has really changed since the butchery in Tianenman Square. How ironic that so many Americans are pissed off about "imposing" democracy on Iraq, but so gladly rush to do business with China's dictatorial leaders (creators of the most Orwellian Olympics since Adolf Hitler hosted them in Berlin), the iron-fisted suppressors of free speech and thought. CNB RSS Feed

Camp Liberty, Baghdad: We Salute You

The Bench salutes the good men and women serving their nation at Camp Liberty, in Baghdad, Iraq. We also salute, equally, the rest of the best military in the world, the US Armed Forces. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year to everyone! Camp Liberty is also known as Camp Liberty Iraq or Camp al-Tahreer. It is located northeast of Baghdad International Airport. The Bench has a good number of readers in Iraq. So here's to you, Camp Liberty, and everyone else in the military. MORE ABOUT CAMP LIBERTY: Christmas At Camp Liberty Video - CBSNews.com FOB-Hopping in Iraq: 25 December 2007... Christmas in Iraq, Soldiers dine together, enjoy holiday ... DefenseLink PhotoEssay: Soldiers Re-enlist at Camp Liberty DefenseLink News Article: Camp Liberty Water Facility Camp Liberty Iraq Camp Liberty pics Camp Liberty - Iraq Notebook : Gazette.com driving on camp liberty

No Shit: IAEA Says Iran Plans Secret Nuclear Experiments

From the "When Will We Learn" files, we get this so-called "news" on Thursday, October 30, 2008: "Iran has recently tested ways of recovering highly enriched uranium from waste reactor fuel in a covert bid to expand its nuclear program, according to an intelligence assessment made available to The Associated Press." Uhm, duh. This is "news" only in the strictest sense. It is more akin, however, to a nightmarish, recurrent dream. The only "news" in this story is this: "The intelligence, provided by a member of the 145-nation International Atomic Energy Agency, also says a report will soon be submitted to the Iranian leadership for a decision on whether to go ahead with the project." The dismaying part of the AP story: "The alleged tests loosely replicate Saddam Hussein's attempts to build the bomb nearly two decades ago. But experts question the conclusion by those providing the intelligence that Tehran, too, is trying to reprocess the fuel to make a nuclear weapon. They note that the spent fuel at issue as the source of the enriched uranium is not enough to yield the approximately 30 kilograms (65 pounds) of weapons-grade material needed for a bomb." FULL ARTICLE at AP... (Update, 9/13/2009: This story has mysteriously been removed by AP!!!) Why is that dismaying? Here's why: 1) This all sounds rather familiar, in a deja vu sort of way. The same AP report notes that "If the information is accurate then Iran is 'trying to get their nose in the tent' of reprocessing material potentially suitable for a warhead, said David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks suspect secret proliferators." Without rehashing history, we heard essentially the same thing from both the Clinton and the Bush administrations about Sadam Hussein and Iraq's desire to resurrect their nuclear materials processing plants. 2) Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warnings and coinciding reports from a number of our allies' intelligence agencies said that Iraq tried to get "yellow cake," (unprocessed uranium) from Africa. General Powell, the Bush stooge who just endorsed Obama, was roundly ridiculed by Democrats and the Left for being "duped" into presenting that so-called "lie" to the United Nations. News flash: There really was yellow cake in Hussein's hands, and in fact about 500 tons of it was transported for storage in Canada back in June of this year. CNN reported that on July 7, 2008. The fact of the yellow cake is more like history than news by now. Tragically, though, most Americans are still not aware of the 500 tons of uranium, thanks primarily to the intentional downplaying of the story by the mainstream media, which in some cases outright suppressed it. In fact, the Chicago Tribune actually apologized for downplaying the story ("An unforgivable omission" by Nancy Thorner). (Update, 9/13/2009: This story has mysteriously been removed by The Chicago Tribune!!! SEE THORNER'S FULL TEXT HERE: PROOF: SADDAM HAD URANIUM) Jim Garamone of the American Forces Press Service reported, "The Iraqi government asked the United States to help transfer the yellowcake -- as the ore is known -- from Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center near Baghdad to its buyer in Canada, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today." The AFPS report was also on July 7, 2008. Note that AP reported today that, in the case of Iran, "the spent fuel at issue as the source of the enriched uranium is not enough to yield the approximately 30 kilograms (65 pounds) of weapons-grade material needed for a bomb." So how will the Democrats, who have been speaking against an Iranian nuclear program, avoid being labeled hypocrites in the Iran scenario, when they still mock the Bush Administration for the Iraqi yellow cake, which most Democrats and Liberals still refuse to believe was real? 3) Back in 2002 and 2003, prior to the invasion of Iraq, the US and its allies demanded repeatedly that Saddam Hussein come clean about his intentions to go ahead with nuclear weapons manufacturing (which are, of course, weapons of mass destruction). He ignored us, of course, as well as 17 United Nations resolutions. In 1998, for example, UN Security Council Resolution 1205 demanded that "Iraq must provide 'immediate, complete and unconditional cooperation' with UN and IAEA inspectors." [Source of summary: http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/01fs/14906.htm] Then, in late 2002, UNSCR 1441, the last of the pre-invasion resolutions, called for three things: (A) "The immediate and complete disarmament of Iraq and its prohibited weapons." (B) "Iraq must provide UNMOVIC and the IAEA full access to Iraqi facilities, individuals, means of transportation, and documents." and finally, warned Iraq that (C) "it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations." [Source of summary: http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/01fs/14906.htm] 3) How many UN resolutions will be required this time before Iran to backs down? Will Iran back down? What will the UN do if Iran does not back down? How would Obama respond to it if, God forbid, he is our president when the decision time arrives? If Iran ignores UN resolutions and continues to ignore diplomatic pleading and begging by the US and our allies, and if embargos and sanctions continue to be laughed at by Iran, the only option left is military force. Actually, there is another option, and that is the option of sticking our collective heads in the sand and trying to wish the problem away. The problem won't go away, of course, if left to the pleasure of Tehran. We should have learned that after Iraq ignored UN resolutions for a dozen years. We should have that after Hitler assured Chamberlain that Germany had no ill intentions for England. We should have learned that a thousand times over the course of history. Sadly, however, we seem to have missed all of those memos. RELATED: AFP: Iraqi uranium transferred to Canada France 24 Iraq sells uranium to Canada France 24

DID OBAMA TRY TO KEEP TROOPS IN IRAQ?

DID BARACK OBAMA TRY TO DELAY TROOP WITHDRAWALS FROM IRAQ FOR PERSONAL POLITICAL GAIN? According to the New York Post story, not only did Obama seek to get the Iraqi’s to stop negotiating with Americans on the troop drawdown, he also tried to bully General David Petraeus to agree to a hard withdrawal date. More at IllinoisReview... Amir Taheri writes in the New York Post today: According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. "He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview. Full Article at New York Post... RELATED: Report: Obama Tried to Delay Withdrawal Agreement of US Troops BARACK'S TERRORIST PAL

What If They Win a War and Nobody Noticed?

Victory in Iraq? Yep, and the British press knows it. The U.S. media, however, has virtually ignored it. This was noticed by Investors Business Daily (IBD), an American newspaper, back in July, 2008 in an editorial titled "Winning Isn't News." Still, the U.S. media - which claim to be "objective" - continue to ignore multiple victories in Iraq. Yet news of the huge victories in Iraq - military and political - are hard to find in the mainstream media of the U.S. IBD asked, "What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq." IBD then quotes from the Sunday Times (London UK), which called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." "A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000," said IBD, "with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul." Right. But we had to get that from a British newspaper. Not from CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, the New York Times, Washington Post or any other major U.S. media outlet. Kudos to IBD for bringing this to our attention. Shame on the treasonous U.S. "mainstream" media for purposely ignoring. Oh? You say the mainstream media wouldn't purposely ignore such a big story? So what are you saying? That those major news organizations are simply unaware of "one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror," as the Sunday Times called it? Perhaps the New York Times didn't consider tremendous U.S. victories as news that is fit to print. Uh huh, keep fooling yourself. IBD's July 7th editorial misses a point, which The Bench will happily point out. To continue with IBD: But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks" that signaled political progress. Yep, no surprise to those of us who study follow the media. But here's the kicker: Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story. That's where IBD got it (slightly) wrong. IBD wrote that "the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story," but - in my opinion - the media does consider U.S. victories in Iraq to be "a big story." That, sadly, is exactly why CNN, CBS, NBC and the rest are suppressing the story. It doesn't fit their Liberal template. It would not help the Democrats or, most especially, Barack Obama. Am I accusing the mainstream media in the U.S. of being unpatriotic, of putting political preference ahead of telling the truth? Yes, and I'll go further in saying that the mainstream media in the U.S. is guilty of sedition by omission. RELATED: RON HART Wars of choice: an unimagined outcome

Germans to Obama: Don't Ask Too Much

Obama's trip abroad is not as sweet as some would like present it. To watch the American media yesterday and today, one might think that all is going swimmingly for the Messiah Obama, who has some in the U.S. that he can turn urine into water. Some major German politicians are concerned that Obama's professed desire to increase the allied troop load in Afghanistan is a dangerous one. They have told him this in no uncertain terms. Spiegel Online reports today that "Germany's Social Democrats are feting Barack Obama's visit to Berlin this week, but behind the scenes they are distancing themselves from the Democratic Party's candidate. Leading SPD members are warning Obama against demanding more German troops for Afghanistan." This raises concerns for a lot of reasons, two of which are: (1) Obama's now-demonstrated ability to piss off allies even before he is nominated, and (2) Obama's hypocrisy in wanting to bring U.S. troops home within 16 months if elected, yet his desire to greatly increase U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan. FULL ARTICLE at Spiegel Online...

Iraq: Fighting Femmes With Femmes

Baghdad (AKI) - Iraqi authorities have trained 130 women from Sunni tribes to seek out and prevent attacks carried out by al-Qaeda's aspiring female suicide bombers. FULL ARTICLE at Jihad Watch... RELATED: How to win the war within Islam

PROOF: SADDAM HAD URANIUM

Not only is there now undeniable proof that Iraq DID INDEED have the YELLOW CAKE URANIUM that Pres. Bush said they had (and other world leaders and their intelligence services), the mainstream media are finally - slooooowly - coming around to the fact that the Leftists and Democrats were the ones who lied about it. KUDOS to the Chicago Tribune for confessing this, for apologizing for it, and for trying to set the record straight. Read this July 10 column by Nancy J. Thorner (emphasis added): An unforgivable omission July 10, 2008 On July 6th there was an AP exclusive that reported how the last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium - reached a Canadian port to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. This removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" from the Tuwaitha nuclear complex 12 miles south of Baghdad was seed material that could have been refined into nuclear weapons. It was first discovered back in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq. This AP report should have been headline news in the Chicago Tribune. After all, much of the early opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush had "lied" about weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam posed little if any nuclear threat to our nation. The news that 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium was removed from Iraq more or less proves that Saddam back in 2003 had his nuclear program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again. It is unforgivable that the mainstream media, including the Tribune, has virtually ignored the AP story about the recent uranium removal from Iraq. There is an obvious answer for this purposeful oversight: it doesn't fit the media's neat storyline that Saddam Hussein's Iraq posed no nuclear threat when we invaded in 2003. --Nancy J. Thorner THANKS TO MS. THORNER for writing that. And who are the "opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush had "lied" about weapons of mass destruction" that Ms. Thorner referred to? Tens of thousands of useful idiots, including our own Chicago City Council. READ THIS PIECE OF IDIOCY...

Historic: Barak and Talabani

All we are saying, is give peace a chance. Those attending the international conference in the Greek capital on Tuesday afternoon witnessed a truly historic event – a handshake between the president of Iraq and Israel's minister of defense. FULL STORY... Of course, there are those who do not want to give peace a chance: Talabani-Barak handshake angers some Iraqi MPs Hamas official criticizes Abbas for introducing Iraqi President ...

"Use Silenced Guns to Kill"

An American Forces Press Release shines a light on the twisted minds of al-Qaida tacticians who plan and direct murder and mayhem. "Use silenced guns to kill coalition forces at Iraqi security checkpoints, smuggle weapons in gradual shipments to reduce the risk of detection, and poison Iraq’s water supply with nitric acid to spread disease and death," says the intercepted 11-page document. The press release continues: Providing a glimpse into the proposed inner workings of al-Qaida in Iraq, the author discusses the need to split jihadists into three groups: snipers, assassination experts and martyrs. Each well-trained group should have an emir, or unit commander, at the lead. Through a series of coordinated surprise attacks, groups should work in unison to “bring down the city or the area,” he wrote. FULL RELEASE at Defenselink.mil... Big hat tip to Black Five

Democrat Inaction Inexcusable

The Democrats took the Congressional elections two years ago. Has Nancy Pelosi cleaned the house as she promised, or has the war dragged on, spending continued, the housing bubble burst, and global warming continued under their watch? Hmmm. Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative adds to this discussion, specifically on the Iraq War and defense. Anne writes: And the only time [Democrats] ever want to cut a budget is for our defense, which to me is the top priority for the federal government. At a time of war it's disgusting. Recall how drastically Bill Clinton cut our military, even as he sent them on humanitarian missions all over the world, ran them ragged, and rained scuds down on empty buildings to wag the dog during the Monica days. The Dems would undermine our troops as a political tactic because their other objections to the war have failed, given that Iraq has met a significant number of its benchmarks now and the war is being fought to win. READ FULL POST at Backyard Conservative...

CHICAGO PROTEST FIZZLES

CHICAGO - March 20, 2008 - What a difference a day makes. Last night's antiwar rally and march in Chicago saw a strong turnout. There was a rally this evening, too. Yesterday, people were saying that tonight's rally (without a march) would be "even bigger" today.

It wasn't. Not even close. Perhaps 200 people gathered at N. Dearborn and W. Monroe at 5:00 p.m. By 6:30 p.m., however, about half of the crowd had left.

The photo at top was taken at 6:23 p.m. Even the media presence was remarkably less tonight than it was last night.

It was chillier than last night, and I had no intention of hanging around any longer. Most of the anti-war gnomes felt the same way.

Apparently, a demonstration is only worth it if it's a festive atmosphere. No point in being uncomfortable while you battle torture and evil colonialism if you can't get yer party on, right?

Sun-Times Wrong On Crowd Estimate

The Chicago Sun-Times got it wrong. They report today that 2,500 people marched in the Loop last night. The Bench was there. They were certainly 2,500 people at one point early in the event, at the rally. But by the time they marched, there were at least 10,000 marching. (Sun-Times story) I went to a high school of 2,000 students. Our auditorium could hold all 2,000. I know what 2,000 people gathered in one place looks like, folks, and there were a hell of a lot more than 2,500 marching last night. Perhaps the Sun-Times made a typo. Perhaps they meant 25,000 instead of 2,500. Perhaps. But this would not be the first time the Sun-Times has had trouble with numbers: Chicago Sun-Times Reports Circulation Figures - With the release of these figures, ABC has notified the Chicago Sun-Times that it is no longer on censure status. There will be another rally tonight at 5:00 p.m. at Dearborn and Monroe. The Bench will there, as we were last night for the whole march. There will be no march tonight, however, just the rally. The Bench will post some rather interesting video of last night's rally and march, as well as video from tonight's rally, on Saturday, March 22. Stay tuned.

Near Riot Averted At Chicago Protest

POLICE ACTION AVERTED BY COOL HEADS ON BOTH SIDES
T. Mannis
CHICAGO - The Bench - March 19, 2008 - Police officers, in riot gear and on horses, were ready. The protesters seemed ready to take a stand.

They numbered in the thousands. The Bench does not have an official estimate, but a guess is well over 10,000 people marched north along Michigan Avenue. They started with a rally and speeches at 5:00 p.m., then walked from Dearborn and Monroe to Walton and Dearborn. It was loud, boisterous and peaceful. But the ending was a cliff hanger. It looked like a riot might break out, and the Chicago Police were not backing down.

The protesters arrived at their destination, between Oak Street and Walton Street on N. Dearborn, just off of Chicago's famous Rush Street bar district, at approximately 8:30 p.m. There, they chanted and sang and danced. It was approximately 8:30 p.m. The police patiently looked on from the sidewalks as the protesters commanded the streets.

After 15 to 20 minutes, the police attempted to clear the road. But, unexpectedly, a red headed young woman refused to move. Police officers tried to negotiate with her for about 10 minutes.

All the while, a dozen or so drummers beat a frantic tempo, appropriate to the tense moments. A man who identified himself as her attorney told The Bench that she insisted her name not be released, even though bloggers and major news outlets alike were taking her photograph. Eventually, she relinquished and it looked as though the crowd would break up. That's not what happened.

The crowd moved in tighter along the street, refusing to allow police and street sweepers move through. About 60 police in riot gear stood just off to the side, ready. Another dozen mounted police lined up on Walton, facing north toward the protesters. Now the tension was very high. The mounted police did not blink, they did not advance. Their very presence was enough for the sensible in the crowd, and after about 10 minutes the crowd dispersed. Almost.

Suddenly, there was the red headed woman again, standing near a man who was laying in the middle of the street. Cameras moved in, tight shots. The mounted police still stood motionless, ready. A police officer calmly spoke to the man. He did not move for a few more moments, then got to his knees, and was helped to his feet by two officers.

The man turned to his left and embraced one of the officers, who returned the gesture. People cheered, and what may have been an ugly scene became a happy ending.

The protesters - 99.9% them - and the Chicago Police deserve credit for handling themselves well.

Another day, another protest in Chicago.

Video review of the protest demonstration on Saturday.

RELATED:

Anti-War Protestors Plan March Down Michigan Ave.
NBC5.com, IL - March 19, 2008
Protestors are preparing to march down Michigan Avenue to protest the Iraq War on the 5-year anniversary of the conflict. ...

Fewer anti-war protesters than predicted
CBS 42, TX - Chicago, Illinois.
Similar demonstrations were scheduled in several cities across the country as part of a national day of protest. ...

HUGE PROTEST DOWNTOWN CHICAGO 3/19/08

Will there be trouble tomorrow at the anti-war demonstration? We hope not, but an ounce of prevention, well... The following email blast went out to building management companies in Chicago's "Loop," the downtown business district that includes the Federal courthouse where Tony Rezko is being tried for fraud. In fact, this protest will start across the street. At 5:00, there were already no-parking signs up, and blue wood horses at the ready. The Bench will be there, camera in hand.

There is an odd passage in the email below: "There is the possibility that the group will attempt to continue their protest on March 20th by engaging in acts of civil disobedience. Building security should be vigilant as similar events have resulted in flyers being wheat pasted to buildings or windows being acid-etched with slogans." Does that sound "civil" to you?

Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Subject: Notice: March and Rally on March 19
Importance: High

On Wednesday, March 19th a Mass March and Rally to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War will occur in Chicago. The event will start at Federal Plaza (Adams & Dearborn) with volunteers gathering at 5pm. The Rally will begin at 6pm in the Plaza and a March will begin at 7pm. The route is north on Clark, east on Wacker, north on Michigan to Oak Street.

The Chicago Police Department is concerned that some attendees might attempt to hang banners from buildings, cranes or other high points. There is the possibility that the group will attempt to continue their protest on March 20th by engaging in acts of civil disobedience. Building security should be vigilant as similar events have resulted in flyers being wheat pasted to buildings or windows being acid-etched with slogans.

It is suggested that buildings move security personnel to front positions and encourage them to be alert.

Immediately report any situation that appears to constitute a threat or suspicious activity to 911.

Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago
120 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 1400
Chicago IL 60603
http://www.boma-chicago.org/

It Ain't Waterboarding

Now THIS is torture... BAGHDAD - U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq , U.S. officials said Wednesday. MORE ...