Laquan McDonald Video Protesters Plan To Storm Mag Mile For Black Friday
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Nov 27, 2015 3:44PM
Protesters march on Nov. 24/Chicagoist
Updated 3:00 p.m. Here is our story on the protest and aftermath.
Local activists are continuing to plan protests over a disturbing video of a Chicago police officer shooting 16 bullets into a black teenager, nearly three days after the gruesome video was released to the public on a court order.
The march is planned for 11 a.m. on Black Friday, arguably the biggest shopping day of the year, on the Magnificent Mile, one of the city's busiest retail stretches of the city. The protesters say they will begin near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive and march north on the Magnificent Mile. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is among the prominent community leaders joining the marches, according to the Tribune.
The protesters are questioning why it took prosecutors over a year to bring charges against the officer, Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday, and decrying a potentially larger pattern of biased investigations into police wrongdoing. Many say they want police chief Garry McCarthy and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign from their jobs over their roles in the events of the video and its investigation.
Hundreds of protesters marched around the city Tuesday night, and more protested Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. Police arrested about five protesters Tuesday night, including an outspoken protest organizer, and four on Wednesday night, but have dropped the charges against some.