Occupy Chicago activists being arrested in Grant Park on October 22 (Timmy Caldwell)A JUDGE has dismissed all charges against nearly 100 Occupy Chicago activists arrested last fall while they tried to set up an encampment downtown--another humiliating setback for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's project of ruling the city with an iron fist.

On October 15 and 22 of last year, thousands of Occupy activists marched to a public plaza in order to establish a camp in a small part of Chicago's sprawling downtown Grant Park. Emanuel and his police responded by arresting more than 300 people.

But in late September, Cook County Judge Thomas Donnelly dismissed the charges against those who hadn't resolved the charges in some other way, ruling that the Chicago Police Department's arrests were a violation of the First Amendment rights of the protesters.

But Donnelly didn't stop there. He further ruled that the city was engaging in selective enforcement of the Chicago park district curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. in order to limit the rights of Chicagoans who want to exercise their rights of free speech and assembly.

http://socialistworker.org/2012/10/09/vindication-for-our-protest-r...