Both Chicago Police and anti-globalization protesters are hoping for a peaceful demonstration in Chicago today.

Anti-globalization, anti-war, socialist and anarchist groups organized a protest of the 8th annual Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue CEO Conference, being held today and Friday at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Chicago.

About 1,000 protesters are expected to march down the route originally outlined in a permit they received from the city of Chicago.

Chicago Police are concerned about the protest and will provide heavy security because of other global trade gatherings, notably two years ago in Seattle, and recently in Washington, D.C. They have prepared for months for the protest and purchased new riot gear, said Robert Cargie, sergeant with news affairs for the Chicago Police Department.

“Have we planned for the worst? Yes,” Cargie said. “Do we expect it to happen? No.”

The Protest Party agreed with the CPD to go directly from Boeing Co.’s headquarters to the Tribune Tower. Protesters will not wind through Chicago’s financial district on their way to the Sheraton, which they were determined to do.

Joe Golowka, a senior history major and member of the Northern Coalition for Peace and Justice, will protest the TABD and capitalism today. Even though he never has been arrested before, it won’t be “the end of the world” if he is, he said.

“Their reign of capitalism hopefully is coming to an end,” Golowka said of the business leaders who are meeting today. “The more they exploit people, the faster it will come.”

Protesting has become more ubiquitous as anti-globalization organizations meet, NIU President John Peters said.

“I’m very supportive of freedom of speech and protest activity,” Peters said. “I think these voices have to be heard, but I hope this is done in a peaceful way.”

Organizers of the protest expect it to be composed, said Ella Hereth, a member of the Student Labor Action Project.

“Everything that’s planned is very legal and non-confrontational,” Hereth said.

Protesters will converge again on Friday at the Daley Plaza, where free food will be served, and people will check in to make sure everyone is safe and did not get arrested, said Rocky Pyskoty, spokesman for the Metro Chicago Anarchist Project.

Other “acts of dissent” will be held throughout the day on Friday, including “citizen interventions, counter summits and TABD tailgating parties.”

The coalition also will present ideas for alternatives to capitalism at an Alternative Economic Conference Saturday at DePaul University.

“Our main focus is to clearly let the TABD and other groups like the World Bank, WTO and IMF know that their business deals are harmful to the planet and the inhabitants of the planet,” Pyskoty said. “No more bloody business deals. No more war for oil.”

European and U.S. CEOs and government officials are meeting to talk about easing barriers to trans-Atlantic trade.

Steel tariffs, chemical regulations, customs requirements and international accountancy standards are on the agenda of the eight-year-old business group, which gives governments input on international trade and regulatory issues at its meetings.

“We’re looking to create a seamless environment between the U.S. and Europe,” Boeing Co. Director Jeff Werner said.

Europe and the United States together account for 40 percent of world gross domestic product and more than a third of global trade.

“We are each other’s biggest trading partners,” said CEO Phil Condit of Boeing Co., the world’s largest exporter, which is based in Chicago. “That trade is extremely important. But one of the challenges always is not to let legitimate disputes and differences escalate into a trade war.”

Condit is co-chairman of the two-day session with Charles Masefield, vice chairman of BAE Systems, one of Europe’s largest defense and aviation groups.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.