Chicago police, protestors prepare for G-8 and NATO summits

Chicago police, protestors prepare for G-8 and NATO summits
Anti-G8 summit demonstrators march against the G8 summit near Deauville, France on May 26, 2011. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol
Chicago police, protestors prepare for G-8 and NATO summits
Anti-G8 summit demonstrators march against the G8 summit near Deauville, France on May 26, 2011. Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

Chicago police, protestors prepare for G-8 and NATO summits

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Protestors and Chicago’s police officers are already preparing for next May’s G-8 and NATO summits that are coming to the city. When President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that international leaders with the G-8 and NATO are coming to Chicago, protestors had to re-group.

Mary Zerkel is with the Quaker group American Friends Service Committee. She said they were planning a counter-summit in Washington, D.C. - even bringing in protestors from Europe - to call for a complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now, Zerkel says they’re in the process of shifting those plans to Chicago.

“We hope that the authorities in Chicago will create a situation where there can be differing opinions in a non-violent atmosphere,” Zerkel said.

Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn says he doesn’t think security will be an issue. But the head of Chicago’s police union says the department is severely under-staffed and the city’s police force is not ready to host two major international summits.