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Webber reports: "Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered Friday at a downtown Chicago plaza for a noisy but peaceful demonstration demanding a 'Robin Hood' tax on banks' financial transactions, the largest protest yet ahead of a two-day NATO summit that is expected to draw even larger protests."

Members of National Nurses United gather in Daley Plaza calling for a 'Robin Hood' tax on stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments May 18, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (photo: Getty Images)
Members of National Nurses United gather in Daley Plaza calling for a 'Robin Hood' tax on stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial instruments May 18, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (photo: Getty Images)



Nurses Call for "Robin Hood Tax" at NATO Summit

By Ammy Webber, Associated Press

19 May 12

 

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housands of nurses and other protesters gathered Friday at a downtown Chicago plaza for a noisy but peaceful demonstration demanding a "Robin Hood" tax on banks' financial transactions, the largest protest yet ahead of a two-day NATO summit that is expected to draw even larger protests.

Members of National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses union, were joined by members of the Occupy movement, unions and veterans at the rally city officials have said could attract more than 5,000 people because of a performance by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, an activist who has played at many Occupy events. Early crowds did not appear to be that large. (MORE: 200 Activists Occupy Plaza in Moscow)

The nurses and their supporters dressed in red shirts and wore green felt Robin Hood caps with red feathers.

Deb Holmes, a nurse at a hospital in Worcester, Mass., said she was advocating for the tax but also protesting proposals to cut back nurses' pensions. "We've worked 30 years for them and don't want to get rid of them," she said.

The rally - which originally was scheduled to coincide with the start of the G-8 economic summit before it was moved from Chicago to Camp David - drew a broad spectrum of causes, from anti-war activists to Occupy protesters to Cathy Christeller's nonprofit Chicago Women's AIDS project.

Christeller, the agency's executive director, said there is common ground among all protesters, even against the backdrop of the NATO summit. "The whole ... idea we should slash the (social) safety net instituted here and in Europe - It's a disaster," she said. "It ignores the source of the economic downturn, and it's making people suffer unnecessarily. This brings us together,"

Mary O'Sullivan and Chris Fogarty held the same signs that they carry every week. The retired couple have been protesting together for more than a decade, and Mary has carried the same sign for years, taping over "Honk to indict Bush" to read "Honk to indict banksters."

She said NATO "leaves rubble in their wake." (PHOTOS: Protesters and Police Clash at Occupy Oakland)

Ben Meyer, a Chicago lawyer who was observing the protest for the National Lawyers' Guild, denounced what he called an excessive police presence at the rally, which included dozens of officers milling through the crowd and lining the perimeter, some of whom were videotaping the rally. "It's frustrating the state needs to come out and show this much force for a nurses' rally," he said. "They have everyone from the superintendent on down here. It's just ridiculous."

Chris Phillips, an Occupy activist from Buffalo, N.Y., said two police officers seized a wooden flag pole he was using to fly a flag reading "coexist" while standing on a bench on Daley Plaza. Officers told him the pole was considered a weapon. "Did they read my flag? It's clearly a peaceful protest," he said. "I didn't hurt anybody. Are you kidding me?" Phillips said. He planned to protest nonstop for the next 4 days.

Meanwhile, lawyers for NATO summit protesters said police on Friday morning released four of nine activists arrested Wednesday on accusations that they had or planned to make Molotov cocktails.

The lawyers said police, with their guns drawn, raided an apartment building where activists were staying and arrested nine people. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild said officers broke down doors in the building in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood and produced no warrants.

"The nine have absolutely no idea what they're being charged with because they were not engaged in any criminal activity at all," said guild attorney Sarah Gelsomino. "They're really very confused and very frightened."

The Chicago Police Department refused to comment.

Many office buildings in the usually bustling Loop business district were closed after workers were warned to stay home because of heightened security, snarled transportation and the possibility of unruly protests.

Other small protests, including one targeting climate change, are also planned.

Associated Press writers Ryan J. Foley, Jason Keyser, Shannon McFarland, Nomaan Merchant and Jim Suhr contributed to this report.

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