Read it all at: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/05/14/nato-to-occupy-chicago/

McCormick Place, where NATO summit will be held (photo: Kevin Gosztola)

Worldwide heads of the National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), military generals, heads of state from the alliance’s twenty-eight member countries will be coming to Chicago for a summit on May 20-21. The city will be put on lockdown all so the military arm of the G8—a group that can dial up a “humanitarian intervention” or war when it wants it, can further expand their military agenda at McCormick Place convention center and plot the next steps of perpetual war for Afghanistan and the wider Asian continent.

The two-day summit will militarize the entire downtown area and transform it into what officials are calling the “Red Zone.” The Federal Protective Service is expected to have armed guards out patrolling the city with “non-lethal” bean bag weapons. Schools nearby will be disrupted. Mail delivery for various zip codes will be suspended temporarily. Businesses have told employees they will close. The National Guard will be moving delegations. Barricades that Mayor Rahm Emanuel contracted out to private companies will go up to prevent Chicagoans from moving around the lakefront or streets nearby McCormick Place. Concentric security zones will be erected around the summit itself. And, those who wish to ride Chicago’s Metra rail line will be subjected to security restrictions that outdo the senseless security theater at airports, as passengers will not be allowed to “carry boxes, luggage, backpacks, pocket knives, bikes, food or liquid,” including all beverages like coffee or soda.