NATO on Monday

Today is the last day of the NATO summit.  I saw a couple of small protests from my window.  This quarter circle park I have taken a picture of is famous for protests.  This is where the 1968 Democratic Convention riots started.  If there is to be a protest, it is usually either there or at Daley Plaza.  Anyway, the buses and cars parked on the circular road around the park are all for police.  There are a lot of police around the parameter of the park as well.  They do this to separate the protesters from the general public.  My point is that the protesting crowd was small. 

What a surprise I had in the evening when I looked out my window to see more protesters.  Remember, the NATO summit people are gone!  Still, we had this sit-in on Michigan Avenue and Jackson.  The protestors had a megaphone.  That means I could hear them as well as see them from my window.  After listening a while, I got the feeling that this was a love fest/testimony meeting.  They were taking turns talking about how they had been wronged and discriminated against.  They spoke about the injustice they had to endure and how they had found meaning and friendship with each other and their cause.
 

After a while, the protesters started spreading out into a large circle while holding hands.  A few individuals walked towards the center of the circle.  They started baring more than a testimony.  They were stripping off their shirts.  There was a moment there when I wondered if they would stop!  Thankfully they did just removing their shirts.  (Yes, some of them had to pull up their pants in the processes of walking into the center of the circle to avoid tripping on themselves!)  Then, the whole crowd started to "omm".  After being on the corner for several hours, they finally broke up.

Over the last few days I have observed the following:  First, most protesters in the Sunday parade were legitimate citizen voicing their opinion in a lawful way.  Second, there was an element who wanted to pick a fight with anyone for any reason.  Thirdly, there are several people who felt that their right to free speech allowed them to trample on the rights of others, hurt their business revenues, unlawfully block their streets and traffic and in many ways inconvenience them.  Lastly, I just want to thank all of you for paying your federal taxes which helped to pay for the policemen who had to babysit these people.