Fifteen community members chained themselves together across the intersection of Michigan and Wacker, disrupting business as usual in downtown Chicago for an hour and a half. The #StopITOA coalition, a group of Chicago community organizations, expressed deep concerns about anti-Muslim and hyper-militarized tactical training at the Illinois Tactical Officers Association’s (ITOA) 2016 Tactical Training Conference taking place at the Stonegate Conference and Banquet Center in Hoffman Estates. #StopITOA Coalition demands an end to the police militarization, Islamophobia and Donald Trump-style fear-mongering which ITOA promotes.

Chained to lockboxes, fifteen members of the #StopITOA Coalition called on Cook County Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (DHSEM) and the City of Chicago end their relationships with ITOA and prioritize spending for human needs, including mental health care and education – not militarization and violence. Protesters held the intersection for 1.5 hours, surrounded by over 50 Chicago Police Department officers until SWAT officers arrived with power tools to cut protesters out who were cuffed and put in two paddy wagons. #StopITOA calls on Stonegate as well as DHSEM and the City of Chicago to end their relationship with ITOA and the hyper-militarization and Islamophobia that has proven to be harmful and deadly for communities of color across the nation.

Photo Courtesy @sarahdashji