Having moved to Chicago from Seattle two months ago, I found the city’s anxiety and the local media’s buildup preceding Thursday’s protest rather comical. It’s the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue for chrissakes! No one had even heard of this summit three weeks ago.
If not for the images of anarchists and projections of violence splashed across the local papers, the “protest party” probably wouldn’t have drawn more than 500 people. As it stands, the protester-to-police ratio was roughly 1:1, hovering just above 1,000 each. One thousand protesters does not a riot make.
While Chicago’s over-preparation and disproportionate police presence are preferable to the Seattle Police Department’s mismanagement of the WTO protest in ’99, it’s a bit disturbing to see local media draw an inherent link between protests and anarchists, free speech and property damage. Relax. It’s called dissent and we could use some right about now.
