More than a thousand protesters have flooded downtown Chicago on the second day of demonstrations against the upcoming NATO summit. A few skirmishes took place with police using batons on activists.
This comes as about 2,500 people attended a rally at a downtown plaza on Friday. However, the biggest demonstrations are expected to take place on Sunday when the NATO summit kicks off.
Around a dozen activists were arrested on the eve of the gathering – three were charged with conspiracy to cause terror.
As RT’s Anastasia Churkina reports the protest was peaceful at first, but then the crowd became a little bit unruly with some people jumping over police barricades. Police eventually used batons against the protesters injuring some of them.
Many of the demonstrators who joined the march on Saturday are OWS movement activists who are outraged with income inequality in the US. People are saying they do not want the NATO summit to be taking place in Chicago. They do not think their leaders should be focusing on Afghanistan, but rather focusing on the withdrawal of all troops, Churkina said.
![Protesters, some affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, demonstrate in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)](http://rt.com/files/news/chicago-protests-nato-summit-689/affiliated-occupy-demonstrate-chicago.jpg)
Protesters, some affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, demonstrate in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)
![A protester struggles with a police officer during a demonstration by Occupy Wall Street and other groups in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)](http://rt.com/files/news/chicago-protests-nato-summit-689/protester-struggles-officer-occupy.jpg)
A protester struggles with a police officer during a demonstration by Occupy Wall Street and other groups in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)