A group of 50 protesters demonstrated outside President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters Thursday to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas.
Despite calling ahead for permission, Reuters reported that some of the roughly 50 protesters said they were unable to deliver a letter to the Obama campaign headquarters. The letter called for the United States to leave NATO and its “violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world.”
It was the second small protest at Obama’s campaign headquarters this week in the run-up to the two-day NATO summit starting on Sunday. Demonstrations on Monday at Obama’s campaign headquarters and at a federal immigration court on Tuesday resulted in 12 arrests.
There was a strong presence of police at Thursday’s event. They were not in riot gear and were mostly on bicycles.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said at the protest, “Everything’s going very well. They’re protesting peacefully and we’re facilitating that.”
Police made no arrests during the protest involving roughly 125 to 150 participants on Thursday, McCarthy said at an evening press conference, adding he was optimistic that upcoming rallies, which should draw bigger crowds, will be peaceful.
Roughly 10 of the 50 protesters pretended to be killed by a cardboard drone aircraft painted silver and held aloft by a demonstrator who also provided sound effects. The protesters’ bodies were then outlined with pink chalk.
Human rights and civil liberties groups have criticized the killing of suspected militants overseas, including American citizens, by U.S. drone aircraft.
Chicago authorities are expecting larger protests for this weekend’s summit; however, so far, they have been small and peaceful.
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