NATO protesters March through the South Loop

This group wanted the United States out of the Philippines.

Sunday May 200, 2012—Well it happened. We finally had the protest march down S. Michigan Ave. that we were told was coming. If you were following things on Twitter, you would have seen moment by moment updates as the marchers got closer and closer to our neighborhood.

Smaller than expected
Perhaps not as big as expected, (some estimated the marchers numbered 3,000) but it was noisy and boisterous. Just about every cause and/or grievance was on display. There were anti-war protesters, those in support of WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, a small sampling of protesters out today. Hard to discern a cohesive message among all the groups, but that didn’t seem to matter to those involved in the march to Cermak. There was a strong police presence during the entire march with officers on foot, riding bicycles, and in motor vehicles.

Police officers on bikes line up along Michigan Ave.

Loud but under control
The protesters were at times loud, some of the signs held high were profane, but overall things never seemed to get out of hand. Before the protesters arrived at Cermak to rally and listen to speeches, the Chicago Sanitation Department was on the job cleaning the streets. Street sweepers and garbage trucks assembled, seemingly out of nowhere, and started cleaning up.

What was your impression?
It seemed like an amazingly smooth operation to us. What was your perspective? Please share your thoughts here.