10. 2012年5月21日 09:46:28
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Protesters and Police Clash at NATO Meeting; 2 Held on Terrorism Charges Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/us/two-held-on-terrorism-charges-at-nato-meeting.html?ref=us Protesters clashed with police at the NATO summit meeting in Chicago on Sunday. By MONICA DAVEY and IDALMY CARRERA Published: May 20, 2012 Facebook Twitter Google+ Email Share Print Reprints CHICAGO — Protesters and the police clashed Sunday in the most fractious confrontation yet following a series of weekend protests against the NATO summit meeting being held here. Related 3 in Chicago Face Charges of Terrorism in Protests (May 20, 2012) Chicago Protests Draw Thousands Before NATO Event (May 19, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors .Many demonstrators were arrested — dragged from the scrum one by one — as officers, clad in full riot gear, tried to disperse a crowd that had gathered after a march near McCormick Place, where the foreign leaders were meeting. Video captured officers striking a group of protesters repeatedly with batons. Earlier in the day, Chicago authorities announced that they had arrested and filed charges against two more men accused of trying to acquire explosives to disrupt the gathering. The announcement came a day after prosecutors said that they had uncovered a plot involving three men who had considered attacks against President Obama’s re-election campaign headquarters, the house of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, police stations and financial institutions. The additional arrests, which occurred in the past few days but were only announced on Sunday, were unconnected to the other charges, an official with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said, though that earlier investigation helped lead the authorities to the men whose arrests were announced on Sunday. One of the suspects, Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago, was charged with falsely making a terrorist threat by claiming that he had homemade explosives — hidden in a hollowed-out Harry Potter book at his house — that could blow up a highway overpass, prosecutors said. Separately, Mark Neiweem, 28, who was also believed to be from Chicago, was charged with “solicitation for possession” of explosives or incendiary devices. Prosecutors said he had discussed making a pipe bomb with an associate. Lawyers for the men denied the charges, and they suggested that the authorities in Chicago were overstating the claims as a warning to the thousands of protesters, some of them linked to the Occupy movement, who have descended on the city for the summit meeting. Law enforcement officials dismissed such assertions, but the arrests only added to the tension in Chicago, which has been preparing for months to host the first NATO summit meeting to be held in an American city outside of Washington, and for the political protests that would accompany it. At least 18 people have been charged with crimes in connection to protests since Friday, the authorities said on Sunday, and there were about a dozen arrests in the days before that. Chicago officials were also investigating whether the city’s official Web site — which was down early Sunday — had been the target of a cyberattack. At least one group seemed to claim responsibility in a YouTube video that has since been removed, and Pete Scales, a spokesman for the mayor, said the city was working with the federal authorities to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered in the steamy weather in Grant Park, along Lake Michigan, to protest NATO and its work. They later planned to march to McCormick Place, where the foreign leaders were meeting. Among the crowd were former members of the military who had taken part in the war in Afghanistan, the chief subject of the NATO meeting. They intended to return their medals in a symbolic ceremony near McCormick Place. Prosecutors said on Saturday that the plan to damage Mr. Obama’s re-election offices or Mr. Emanuel’s house involved three men who were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and possession of explosives. Bond for the three men — Jared Chase, 27, of Keene, N.H.; Brent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla.; and Brian Jacob Church, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — was set at $1.5 million each. The state’s attorney, Anita Alvarez, said she believed it was the first time that defendants had been charged under the state’s antiterrorism statute. She declined to comment on possible federal charges. Officials said there was no imminent threat to the city, and they said the suspects had identified themselves as anarchists. “The individuals we charged are not peaceful protesters; they are domestic terrorists,” Ms. Alvarez said. “The charges we bring today are not indicative of a protest movement that has been targeted.” The suspects’ lawyers said the authorities were trying to send a message. “This is just propaganda to create a climate of fear and to create this public perception that protesters are violent,” said Michael Deutsch of the National Lawyers Guild, which is providing legal advice and representation for protesters during the summit meeting. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declined to comment and referred questions to the Chicago Police Department. Prosecutors said they began investigating the three men in early May. They were detained on Wednesday night, when police officers and F.B.I. agents obtained a no-knock search warrant and raided an apartment in Bridgeport, a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. The defendants, prosecutors said, had assembled four firebombs using empty beer bottles, and had cut up bandannas as fuses. Officials said the improvised bombs were to be used in attacks against police stations, which would divert attention from other attacks around the city. The defendants also had plans to buy assault rifles and to build a pipe bomb, prosecutors said. Weapons — including throwing stars, swords with brass-knuckle handles, a hunting bow and a shield with protruding nails — as well as gas masks and a map with details of escape routes from the city were also said to have been found in the apartment. But lawyers for the defendants said the men were entrapped, and that a man and a woman who were either informants or undercover law enforcement officials had come up with the plans and provided the materials for explosives. Lawyers for the men whose arrests were announced on Sunday said the same man and woman were involved in their clients’ cases. Steven Yaccino contributed reporting from Chicago, and Joshua Brustein from New York.
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