A reporter for education-reform website EAGnews captured the video below showing how the sausage was made in last week’s Chicago Teachers Union rally — and he says he was physically assaulted for his trouble.
His assailants, on the other hand, got away scot-free.
EAGnews reporter Jeremy Segal was at the protest rally against the planned closing of 54 public schools in downtown Chicago. He brought a camera, with which he was filming and interviewing protesters.
He interviewed union president Karen Lewis and professional activist Jesse Jackson — to little avail.
Things got interesting when Segal later noticed a banner representing the International Socialist Organization, and he tried to ask Lewis and Jackson about it.
According to Segal, three men grabbed him and pushed him down a sidewalk. Segal said he tried to hit back, but was overpowered.
During the tussle, Chicago Teacher’s Union organizer Martin Ritter, began to berate Segal.
“This guy has a tiny penis,” Ritter said, according to Segal’s video. “Keep it moving.”
At one point, an unidentified police officer bizarrely ordered Segal to “cut that camera off.” The cop didn’t follow through with any action when Segal apparently ignored him.
At another point, an unidentified protestor said of Segal: “He’s a Tea Party blogger here to cause trouble.”
Toni Stith, a Chicago parent who was protesting the school closings, saw Segal get manhandled and reported it to police.
“Hey, don’t snitch on him,” an unidentified protester admonished the concerned parent.
The police ultimately arrested two of the union supporters who assaulted Segal but then let them go soon thereafter.
Segal said Chicago’s finest asked him to sign a blank complaint form.
According to Segal and EAGnews, the Chicago Teacher’s Union revealed that its members had been training with “Professor Occupy” Lisa Fithian on civil disobedience techniques.
Union leaders also allegedly prearranged with the Chicago Police Department so that dozens of its rank-and-file members would be arrested — but only briefly — for sitting in the middle of a pre-blocked-off street, according to EAGNews.
Before the rally, says EAGNews, the police already had collected the names of people who volunteered for staged arrests.
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