Organizations planning to protest the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue downtown this week say they are determined to take the long way through downtown during a march that could tie Thursday’s afternoon rush hour in knots in the Loop.
City officials want the protesters to take the shortest route possible from Boeing’s headquarters at Washington and Canal Streets to Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave., and then to the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers at 301 E. North Water St., where the business summit is being held.
But the protesters are determined to take a circuitous route through the Loop, maximizing their exposure and impact, said Darlene Gramigna of the American Friends Service Committee.
“It’s our event. We get to say where we want to go,” Gramigna said. She said that she and other organizers would meet with the city’s special events staff at 11 a.m. Wednesday. If the city refuses to grant a permit to allow the protesters to march through the streets, then they would take their preferred route, using sidewalks, without a permit, she said.
Police Traffic Section Cmdr. Ed Lanuti said Tuesday that police still hope to persuade the protesters to take the shortest route possible.
The demonstrators are planning to protest international free-trade policies to be discussed Thursday and Friday by the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue, a group of American and European corporate leaders.
Several organizations oppose the talks because they believe free-trade policies exploit workers and natural resources while concentrating profits in corporations headquartered in first-world countries.
Protests against similar meetings have resulted in clashes between police and demonstrators. Chicago police leaders have vowed to maintain order and to avoid a debacle like the rioting that took place in Seattle during a 1999 World Trade Organization summit.
Police are recommending people take public transportation instead of driving to the Loop.
Beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday there will be a parking ban on all streets from Congress Parkway to Wacker Drive between Michigan Avenue and Canal Street. Parking also will be banned from the Chicago River to Oak Street between Lake Shore Drive and Clark Street.
The parking ban along Columbus Drive was extended south by police Tuesday to Roosevelt Road.
