Reuters: Politics: Eight arrested in protest at Obama Chicago office

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Eight arrested in protest at Obama Chicago office May 14th 2012, 17:15 By Eric Johnson CHICAGO | Mon May 14, 2012 1:15pm EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Eight anti-war demonstrators were arrested on Monday in a surprise protest at President Barack Obama's campaign office in Chicago, a first taste of what is expected to be a week of protests around the NATO summit beginning this weekend. Chicago is Obama's hometown and his re-election campaign is headquartered in a downtown office tower. Roughly 125 protesters gathered at the Obama offices as morning commuters were streaming into work on Monday morning. Eight were arrested for trespassing, Chicago police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said. The protest was staged by a coalition including the Catholic Worker Movement, the group said. Representatives of the group stressed that they emphasized peaceful protest and not violence. Dozens of protesters from across the country entered the building and scurried up escalators toward the elevators that go to the campaign's office, said Jake Olzen, 28, a member of the Catholic Worker Movement in Chicago. The group was thwarted at the elevator bank and turned to singing folk songs celebrating peace. "We wanted to invite (Obama) and other NATO leaders to listen to us that we don't need these institutions in our lives and in our countries," Olzen said. "The war in Afghanistan is not ending, even though the president has said there would be troop withdrawals." Leaders from members of the NATO alliance are expected to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan, and protest organizers said they hope thousands of people will turn out to demonstrate against the war and other issues such as income inequality. The protesters wanted to bring an anti-war and anti-capitalist message directly to the Obama administration at the campaign headquarters, along with Rahm Emanuel, a former Obama chief of staff who is now Chicago mayor. But they failed to deliver their message to a representative of the campaign. An official of the Obama campaign, who was in the office when the protest began, said the demonstration had not disrupted operations there. The campaign had no comment on the protest group's anti-war message. (Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing By Peter Bohan and Greg McCune) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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