(MintPress) – Speculation of President Barack Obama’s motives to move the Group of Eight (G8) Summit from Chicago to Camp David is mounting as some say it is a way to prevent protesters from demonstrating at the event. Recently proposed legislation, if signed by Obama, would also ensure no legal protest activities would take place at the events.
On Monday afternoon, Obama announced the plans to move the summit from his home city of Chicago to a more secluded Camp David – a heavily-secured base located in the mountains 60 miles outside of Washington D.C. A spokeswoman for Obama’s National Security Council told the Chicago Tribune that the decision to move the event had nothing to do with Chicago, and more to do with security issues.
“It’s not about Chicago being able to handle logistics, as evidenced by the fact that the NATO and ISAF meetings will be held there, which are far larger than the G8 meeting,” said Caitlin Hayden. “There are a lot of political, economic and security issues that come together at the G8.”
Terrorism expert Tom Mockaitis said the tension in the Middle East may have created worry of how protesters would respond to the meeting of the nations.
“There’s no question that may have figured into the thinking,” Mockaitis told CBS Chicago. “On the other hand, they may have looked at Chicago and said we’re not confident you can provide the security without it being sufficiently undisruptive of the proceedings.”
The summit is still scheduled for its original dates of May 18-19. Another summit, originally scheduled in Chicago, will remain there; that event will be a gathering of NATO allies and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and will be May 19-21.
Protesters respond
Between both events, protesters have been estimated to arrive in the tens of thousands. A principle planner of the protests, Andy Thayer, told the Washington Post that the move hardly matters because people are going to protest regardless.
“Guess what? The protests are going to happen anyway because if (protesters) are upset about G-8, they have just as much reason to be upset about NATO,” said Thayer.
Another protester, Joe Iosbaker, who heads the United National Antiwar Committee, said the move is being interpreted as an early victory for the protesters.
“It’s a major victory for those of us who are planning these protests,” Iosbaker said. “The administration is taking G-8 someplace where they won’t have to face the people who suffer under their policies.”
Chicago police say at least two major demonstrations have already been planned for downtown Chicago during the summit. Organizers of the protests said they wanted to send marchers down Michigan Avenue – a major street in Chicago – in the middle of the day. Chicago Police have said the department has enrolled 8,400 of its approximately 12,000 officers to some form of crowd-control training.
Mike Shields, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President, said the move to Camp David was a good idea because the protests were sure to turn violent and he did not want to put the city’s police officers at risk.
“We’re definitely preparing ourselves,” Shields said. “We’ll just stay the course, and we’re going to be dealing with the same type of people that are going to be coming into town – you know, a NATO summit or a G8 summit is kind of like a Mardi Gras for violent protesters.”
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‘Trespass Bill’ potential
Behind the compounds of Camp David, the G-8 Summit will appear more like the Bilderberg Group – an annual meeting of North American and Western European officials held behind closed doors that are inaccessible to the public.
The relocation of the G-8 Summit to Camp David comes at a time when President Obama could, at any day, sign a bill that easily cruised through Senate and the House, that would make it illegal to protest in proximity to any event where a figure is receiving Secret Service protection.
The certainty of Secret Services presence at the summits opens up a scenario where in Obama could sign the bill any time before May and legally stifle protests within a roving proximity of the events.
Should Obama sign the bill, protests would more than likely still occur in large numbers in Chicago. At Camp David, however, the combination of location and new legislation would keep the remote location quiet.
In a time when protests have been classified as “low-level terrorism” by the U.S. Department of Defense, demonstrators face an uphill battle when protesting. Occupy protesters have faced arrests for peaceful protest on government grounds across the nation. On Monday night, roughly 70 protesters were arrested after protesting high education costs at California’s state Capitol building.
Over the weekend, 31 abortion-rights protesters were arrested in Virginia while sitting on the stairs of the Virginia state Capitol. In both instances, the demonstrators used peaceful tactics.