3 arrested in Chicago Black Friday protests

Beyond the video’s troubling nature, the fact Laquan McDonald wasn’t the first black person shot dead by a Chicago police officer was another reason that protestors took to the streets, CNN said.

“I believe that protests, peaceful protests, is the right way to fix that, and I also hope that government authorities will exert more effort to solve this problem because the problem won’t be solved if the US doesn’t adopt legislation to enact actual changes following the protest”.

Chanting “Stop the cover up, 16 shots” and “Black power”, demonstrators marched through rain and mist along Michigan Avenue, shutting down the avenue’s northbound lanes and partially blocking the southbound lane as shoppers stood in the sidewalks. “This is what democracy looks like”, was another. Protesters blocked traffic on the avenue, chanting “16 Shots”.

1500 people marched on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile on Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.

“Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he considers the demonstrations have gone “extraordinarily well” in large part because his officers have gone out of their way to let demonstrators express their outrage”. They directed shoppers who wanted to leave out the back door.

“We are closed indefinitely” a guard bellowed repeatedly. “I didn’t know they were going to delete it”.

Activist Mark Carter called on people to “rise up” and shut down the Magnificent Mile shopping area on Friday.

Police kept a distance from the protesters and blocked traffic from entering onto Michigan Avenue.

Police were forced to close the six-lane avenue to vehicles to accommodate marchers.

Today it happened. “We’re standing here, not to obstruct but to make people think about what’s happened, and pose the question what can they do about it. By not crossing our line is huge”, said A. Castleberry a protestor. Some demonstrators pushed shoppers. There were a few reported arrests involving chastised protesters.

On the whole, though, the protest was over by this point, and it ended not at all with a bang but with a gentle whimper.

Protesters gathered at 63rd and Cottage Grove beginning at around 3 p.m. Saturday for a protest and march. Numerous leadership denied such intention. Inside the warm and festive Water Tower Place, cops surfed their phones.

McDonald, the teenager whose death has generated this week’s protests, died on October 20, 2014.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ initial reports had Laquan McDonald as a threat to the safety of the police officers on the scene. Many of those people are from out of town; they’re not even from the state of IL, the city of Chicago, and the retail that goes on down there has nothing to do with city government.

Five seconds after his last shot, the video shows an officer walk over and kick the knife away from the dead or dying young man. In the last minute before the video ends, no one approached McDonald to check on him or render any aid. Van Dyke reloaded his weapon to continue shooting, but was told to cease his fire. He kept shooting – and shooting – after McDonald fell to the ground. Actions that will bring about the fundamental reform that is needed in the face of this crisis. The indicted officer now resides in a hospital building in protective custody.

The Cook County state’s attorney this past week announced a state-level charge of first-degree murder against the officer.