I headed out to the NATO rally on Sunday a buddy of mine who is a filmmaker. After he had been threatened to have his camera smashed while he was out on Saturday, along with reading what other photographers had found on anarchist sites about best ways to cut camera straps and instructions on which door on the camera houses memory cards, we figured it would be a good idea to head out together. Nothing really came of those threats and once things really got going on Sunday it was every man for himself. But here’s a short video he put together from two days on the street. Some of these scenes might look familiar from stills I’ve already posted.
An injured photographer is ushered out of the fray to medics at the rear during the NATO protest in Chicago.
At one point the most dangerous place to be in the crowd was not at the front of the line where the main clash was happening, but about 15 feet back as police surged west and pinned everyone up against the wall of a business. The metal barricades separating the street from the sidewalk were knocked over and it’s only out of sheer luck that no one got caught under them or that no one had an ankle go through the bars and get snapped as the crowd poured over uncontrollably. Protesters quickly organized, made a hole, picked up a barricade and threw it at the police.
With all of the cameras around yesterday when things got heated at the NATO protest, it’s going to be interesting to see how the narrative of the day is shaped over time. One of my fears is that the context of images of the police response could get lost.
Brian Cassella of the Chicago Tribune caught an image of a police officer throwing a punch at a protester that will probably live on for years to come, but as he said, it’s important to see it in its full sequence.
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