Chicago protesters break away from nurses' rally

Source: AP-Excite

By RYAN J. FOLEY and NOMAAN MERCHANT

CHICAGO (AP) - Hundreds of protesters broke away from a large rally and began marching through Chicago streets Friday, taunting police and shouting about everything from bank bailouts to nuclear power - a prelude to even bigger demonstrations expected after the start of a NATO summit.

Police said there was one arrest for aggravated battery of a police officer. Officers were also seen trying to arrest a man who scaled a bridge tower and pulled down part of a NATO banner. Earlier, police handcuffed a man at the end of a noisy but largely peaceful rally organized by the nation's largest nurses union.

Members of National Nurses United were joined by members of the Occupy movement, unions and veterans at the rally, where they demanded a "Robin Hood" tax on banks' financial transactions. The event drew several thousand people and featured a performance by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, an activist who has played at many Occupy events.

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.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120518/D9URDGLO0.html

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Protesters block traffic on Michigan Ave., as they march through the city during a demonstration Friday, May 18, 2012, ahead of this weekends' NATO summit in Chicago. Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered for the noisy but largely peaceful demonstration with a broad spectrum of causes, from anti-war activists to Occupy protesters to a Chicago Women’s AIDS project. The demonstrations Friday were the largest yet ahead of a two-day NATO summit that is expected to draw even larger protests. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)