Chicago police crack heads as NATO leaders crack open their countries' wallets

The Chicago Police Department brought back memories of the 1968 Democratic Party convention by beating demonstrators with batons this weekend.

As the videos below show, the cops were quite prepared to use force to subdue the crowd of mostly peaceful protesters who descended on the city to protest the NATO summit.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would withdraw all military personnel from Afghanistan in 2014. He also committed to spending $330 million over three years to boost the Afghanistan government's security forces.

NATO hopes that its member countries will collectively contribute $4 billion toward this effort.

Below, you can see some snapshots of the peaceful side of the protest, which were taken by Vancouver journalist Joanna Chiu.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.