PRESS RELEASE: Chicagoans to rally and march in defense of civil liberties

(Chicago, 3/8/12)— The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), the Arab-American Action Network (AAAN), Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights (CMPR), among other local organizations are holding a rally this Saturday in Daley Plaza. They are urging the community to voice their opposition to indefinite detentions of American citizens without trial, deportations of immigrants, and policies influenced by fear, Islamophobia, and prejudice.

March 10th is the 6th anniversary of the massive march for immigrant rights that launched the national movement. Now those mostly Latino communities are facing up to 400,000 deportations annually. The Black and Latino communities are relentlessly targeted by the police and courts. Arab and Muslim communities are targeted by government policies driven by the so-called “war on terror.”  Repression of First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly have seen 6000 arrests of Occupy Wall Street protestors, and anti-war and international solidarity activists such as Carlos Montes are being criminalized. Earlier this week, CAIR-Chicago sent out an Action Alert calling on members of the community to voice their opposition to FBI repression, deportations, and indefinite detentions without trial. SEE ACTION ALERT: Attend rally and march to defend civil liberties at Daley Plaza WHAT: Rally and March to defend civil liberties WHEN: Saturday, March 10th 12:00PM Noon WHERE: Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington Street WHY: To oppose the indefinite detentions without a trial, stop Islamophobia, to defend immigrant rights, end deportations, to  stop FBI repression of anti-war activists, to support freedom of dissent, and to end criminalization of Blacks and Latinos. -END- CAIR-Chicago is a chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to defend civil rights, fight bigotry, and promote tolerance. CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, arehab@cair.com; 312.212.1520 CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator, Aymen Abdel Halim, ahalim@cair.com, 312.212.1520                                                                  The Committee Against Political Repression's J. Burger, jburger40@gmail.com, 773.263.4341