Occupy Chicago arrests are seen as a trial run for international summits to come next year - chicagotribune.com

" ... Throughout Saturday evening, police remained in constant contact with organizers
of the Occupy Chicago demonstrations, warning that anyone remaining in Grant
Park after the 11 p.m. curfew, violating a city ordinance, risked being
hauled off to jail, city officials said.

Mayor Rahm
Emanuel was kept abreast of the situation, receiving regular updates from
police Superintendent Garry
McCarthy, said Chris Mather, the mayor's spokeswoman.

"The mayor made
it clear that he wanted protesters to have ample warning that the park was
closing as well as time to leave should they choose to do so," Mather
said.

Occupy Chicago organizer Kelvin Ho said about 500 protesters who
had camped out at the park Saturday night were divided into color-coded groups —
red for those who did not want to be arrested, yellow for those who were
undecided and green for those who were willing to remain behind and go to
jail.

At 12:45 a.m., McCarthy made the call for police to move in and
arrest anyone remaining in the park. Shortly after 1 a.m., police began leading
175 people away in handcuffs.

"Demonstrators were in violation of the
law, and it is the obligation of police to enforce the law," Mather
said.

Police officials determined they could not allow the more than
2,000 protesters to spend the night in the public park because it would be
harder to get them out in the coming days, according to a police source familiar
with the events.

It also would set a bad precedent for dealing with
thousands of demonstrators expected to converge on Chicago from around the world
during the G-8 and
NATO
summits that will be held simultaneously in May, the source said. ..."