Protester's lawyer up after C.P.D. raided a house

Officers wearing Chicago Police uniforms raided an apartment in Bridgeport late Wednesday and detained at least eight activists without justification, lawyers working on behalf of NATO protesters alleged today.

Police refused to provide any details about the alleged raid or whether they were detaining people.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was asked about the allegation after announcing at a news conference this afternoon that there had been “zero arrests, as far as protest activity today.”

Asked about the Bridgeport incident, McCarthy said only that there was an “inquiry” authorities were looking into and he would have to gather further information before commenting.

An hour later, his spokeswoman declined to answer any questions about the situation.

A spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild, which represents protesters, said lawyers were speaking with some of those detained at a police facility at 3340 W. Fillmore St. on the West Side.

“The Chicago Police Department has basically disappeared as many as eight activists,” said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild, adding “There’s absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Hermes declined to release the names of those detained. He said the NLG had been speaking with police leaders throughout the day Thursday, and that they denied anyone was being held.

Witnesses who alleged they were detained at the scene before being released said police broke down doors in an apartment building near 32nd and Morgan Streets at 11 p.m., and searched the units while refusing to show the occupants a search warrant, said Sarah Gelsomino, an attorney with the lawyers guild.

The officers then left but returned with a warrant that witnesses claimed was not signed, she said.

When police detained the people, they also seized parts of a beer-making kit, including bottles and caps, and a cell phone, Gelsomino said.

Zoe Sigman, an Occupy activist who said she lives in the building, appeared at the lawyers guild news conference to speak about the incident.

Sigman said she was returning home Wednesday evening when she bumped into a neighbor coming down the block in the other direction who told her police were at the building.

She denied anything illegal was happening in the apartment where a number of Occupy Chicago protesters had been staying for two weeks leading up to this weekend’s NATO summit.

“I know that for a fact,” she said. “It was just a home base. It was a place for people to eat and get some sleep.”