Protecting Free Speech During the NATO Summit

By Maude Carroll, ACLU of Illinois at 3:30pm

After months of preparation, the ACLU of Illinois is working through the weekend deploying observers and volunteers to monitor NATO Summit protest activity. The NATO Summit will take place on Sunday, May 20th and Monday, May 21st at the McCormick Center, but protest activity has already been taking place in the week leading up to the Summit. Protesters and activists from around the world have descended on Chicago to demonstrate against a vast array of issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan, to health care, to corporate malfeasance on Wall Street.

Two teams of our most loyal volunteers have been organized: ACLU observers, donning bright orange caps and shirts and made up of attorneys and law students, are being sent out to take notes and to keep track of any possible civil liberties violations. “Know Your Rights” volunteers wearing t-shirts with the “Defending the Targets of Intolerance” emblem, are also sent out to pass out “Know Your Rights” materials, collect email sign-ups and report back to ACLU headquarters with important updates. Check out some of the pictures they have taken so far.