From the newswire: "An off duty police officer shot and killed another unarmed civilian last night on the city's West Side, making this one of the worst years in recent memory for such shootings [and prompting a press conference and march in protest.]"

"Over 100 community residents held a press conference followed by a march [on Wednesday, October 29] through the community on Chicago's West Side to protest the Monday night police shooting of 34-year-old Larnester Hull, father of five, in the back of the head by an off-duty Chicago police officer."

"Make no mistake about it," said Mark Carter, one of the protest leaders. "The Chicago Police do not like black people. It doesn't matter if they're [the police] white, black or whatever, they're all blue. They're police. This is the USA, and they're still killing black people." Read more / See photos | Press release

Victims, attorneys and activists who have been calling for justice in the now infamous Chicago police torture cases for decades claimed victory today when former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was finally indicted by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and arrested in Florida on charges relating to the torture of over 100 African American men over a 20 year period. Read More

Related stories: Fitzgerald: Others could be charged in Burge case - Chicago Tribune | Daley accepts no responsibility for Burge torture cases - Chicago Sun-Times | Police Torture in Chicago - archive of articles by former Reader staff writer John Conroy, who has been covering police torture and related issues since 1990.

 

Peace activists took to the streets on October 11, in cities across the United States to protest the 6th anniversary of Congress voting for war on Iraq, and the extension of war and the national war-making apparatus. Indymedia affiliates covered protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, and in Chicago.

From the newswire: "Hundreds of peace protesters gathered in the heart of Chicago's Pakistani community on Saturday [October 11] to voice their opposition to escalating war in the region — including U.S. military attacks inside Pakistan's borders. Hundreds of thousands of internal refugees have been displaced in the wake of the new aggression, and hundreds of civilians have been killed."

Photo essay | Video from Labor Beat | Indymedia.US coverage | More photos | Other Oct. 11 actions

The October 2008 episode of Chicago Independent Television documents a summer of activist efforts in Chicago in 2008, including protests at the Taste of Chicago and at the Chicago Air and Water Show. The episode also features protests against a possible U.S. bombing of Iran, and a commemoration of the famed 1968 Chicago protests against the Democratic National Convention.

Read more | Watch online | CIMC Video Collective

The 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, like other political conventions in recent years, has seen mass-protests against the RNC on a variety of issues and violent responses from police and other authorities.

The police violence began the weekend before the RNC began, when convergence spaces in the Twin Cities were raided to intimidate counter-convention attendees. Chicagoans were among those arrestees amid the raids, and other Chicagoans called for solidarity and decried the violent crackdown. [See Chicago Independent Television coverage of Chicago press conference: Video 1 | Video 2 ]

When the convention began, a massive march and a host of smaller actions enveloped the Twin Cities. Activists faced down a massive police presence, further repression, and hundreds of arrests. The additional repression extended beyond protesters and activists but also to journalists; Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, was among the arrestees.

Photos from RNC: Photo Set 1 | Photo Set 2 | Photo Set 3 | Photo Set 4 | Joeff.com: RNC Day 1 | Joeff.com: RNC Day 4

Additional Indymedia Coverage: Twin Cities Indymedia | Indymedia US: RNC Day 1 | Indymedia US: RNC Day 2 | LA Indymedia: Last day of RNC | Boston IMC: Riot Police Target Journalists at the RNC

Additional Chicago-related coverage: Marching on the RNC | Statement of Solidarity with NO RNC Organizers in the Twin Cities | Superanne Twitter Feed at the RNC | Chi-town Daily News: Police Targetting Journalists at RNC

Additional Coverage: RNC 08 Twitter Feed | CodePINK Liveblogging | Radical Reference: RNC Raids | Democracy Now! | Coldsnap Legal Collective | Two people from Milwaukee illegally imprisoned in St. Paul | Arrested Street Medic Speaks - Press Release | The Ground Noise and the Static: A Chronicle of the Battle of Saint Paul, RNC 2008

From the newswire: "In a brazen move against freedom of speech and against the Chicago peace movement, Chicago Police held peace activists at the 2008 Chicago Air and Water Show inside a fenced-off 'free speech zone', as one police officer termed it. The 'free speech zone', surrounded by a three-and-a-half-foot-high impromptu metal barrier serving as a makeshift fence, sat just south of eastern base of the North Avenue foot bridge, near the intersection of North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive.

"Until recently, activists who assembled at the Air And Water Show could assemble and interact with other attendees unimpeded. However, in the 2008 Show, activists were ordered to remain within the confines of the 'free speech zone', roughly eight feet away from the sidewalk and on a hard-to-walk-on sandy surface. Police said that individuals who left the 'free speech zone' would be arrested." Read more | See photos | Watch video

Selected previous Chicago "free speech zone" incidents: McCormick Place, 2003 | Taste of Chicago, 2006 | CIMC Video: Taste of Chicago, 2006 | AFSC free speech restricted

On August 2, 2008, more than two hundred protesters assembled in downtown Chicago to rally outside the State of Illinois Building, and marched against a possible bombing of Iran — in the face of belligerent policy remarks by the U.S. government and strong hints of possible future military actions.

After the half-hour-long rally, the participants marched from the State of Illinois Building. They headed first to a nearby Republican campaign office. The marchers then headed north on Wells Street up to Wacker, then East just past Michigan Avenue to the Israeli Consulate. The marchers then proceeded south on Michigan Avenue to Randolph Street to a nearby Democratic Party campaign office, to join up with a second protest already underway on behalf of single-payer health care.

Read account | Watch video | See Photos

Additional Resources: Stop War on Iran | No War on Iran Coalition — Chicago

A new article by Chicago Indymedia contributor Jessica Pupovac posted originally on Alternet details the ongoing injustice of still-jailed victims of the infamous Jon Burge police torture regime.

Among the highlights of the article:

* "At least 24 African-American men that the People's Law Office in Chicago claims are still serving sentences for crimes they say they confessed to only after enduring hours of torture at the hands of Chicago police officers under Commander Jon Burge between 1972 and 1992."

* "Almost 20 years later, not a single police officer has been made to face charges in the massive scandal."

* "On July 18…members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, lawyers from the People's Law Office, religious and community leaders and relatives of the wrongfully imprisoned rallied in front of [Illinois Attorney General Lisa] Madigan's office", calling for prosecution against guilty parties and reparations for victims.

Read more

Additional coverage — Progress Illinois: Burge Torture Victims Still Behind Bars | Gapers Block: Burge Victims Remain in Legal Limbo

Additional Resources: Police Torture in Chicago: The Chicago Reader's John Conroy Archive | Human Rights at Home: The Chicago Police Torture Archive | Summary of Amnesty International's Concerns on Police Abuse in Chicago