en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/681759 Comments by Urban Backpacker http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Windows-smashed-as-May-Day-protests-wind-through-Downtown-Seattle-149713705.html#IDComment370858110 I live in Chicago, and was downtown on the Friday before the NATO conference, and it was a little eerie - the demonstrators were conspicuous only by their total absence, and the police really weren't - a group of about one to dozen officers was present on every street corner I passed. When I say "no demonstrators", I mean none. The only person I saw do so much as pass out literature on that day was the usual street corner preacher - locals will know of whom I speak, the somewhat elderly gentleman in a suit who stands on state street every day with a megaphone, softly asking everybody if they love Jesus. As softly as one can do anything with a megaphone, I mean. Despite a report of clearly unacceptable and not at all peaceful behavior I heard from somebody who claimed to be an eye witness, I found myself wondering if the first amendment had gone on vacation. Thu, 31 May 2012 05:49:07 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Windows-smashed-as-May-Day-protests-wind-through-Downtown-Seattle-149713705.html#IDComment370858110