March planned along Michigan Avenue in Chicago

Despite the threats of disruption, though, Chicago business owners and associations are urging visitors not to be deterred and to stick with plans to do their shopping in the city. But protesters succeeded in blocking main entrances on both sides of the street for more than three blocks. “I’m your teacher today!” one African-American protester shouted at an officer Wednesday evening.

Entrances were also blocked at the Disney Store, the Apple Store, Nike, Tiffany & Co., and Neiman Marcus. Some even snapped photos of the crowd.

Dozens of protesters are marching in downtown Chicago, demanding justice for a black teenager fatally shot by a white police officer. “Shut this down! Shut this down!” It represents complaints filed against more than 8,500 Chicago police officers in a force of around 12,000, according to the Citizens Police Data Project.

Hundreds of activists chanting “16 shots!”

The marchers disrupted traffic along the busy State Street shopping corridor.

Americans paused Thursday to celebrate their blessings despite terrorism fears and racial tensions over fatal police shootings across the country. Small and mostly peaceful protests have sprouted up around the city following yesterday’s release of a video showing Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting and killing 17-year-old McDonald.

“We have to protest peacefully, that’s the only way. We want new leadership”, Alderman Roderick Sawyer told a news conference.

The video released Tuesday shows McDonald jogging down a street and then veering away from Van Dyke and another officer who emerge from a police SUV drawing their guns.

Jay Darshane, the district manager of the restaurant, told NBC Chicago that police deleted the footage before he got a chance to see it.

It was the largest demonstration in Chicago’s streets since police on Tuesday released the video under a court order to make it public.

“Well, there’s a rising tide of violence in big urban areas”.

And protests there are nothing new. If convicted, he could face 20 years to life in prison.

Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and CNN legal analyst, expressed shock it took so long to release the video.

A number of police killings of black men over the past year have given rise to the nationwide “Black Lives Matter” movement, pushing the issue to prominence in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Four people were arrested Wednesday during Chicago’s second night of confrontations between demonstrators and police officers – a response to this week’s release of video showing a black teen’s death at the hands of a white cop.

President Barack Obama, who hails from Chicago and began his political career there, said on Facebook that he was “deeply disturbed” by the video, but “personally grateful to the people of my hometown for keeping protests peaceful”.

But police dashcam video showed the 17-year-old walking away when Van Dyke opened fire and made no threatening gestures to justify the use of deadly force, prosecutors say.

Led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and other black leaders, protesters flowed over the elegant thoroughfare, also called Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, which leads to the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood.

Officials in Chicago released video on Tuesday of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke reportedly firing 16 shots at 17-year-old Laquan McDonald last year.

Frustrated motorists voiced their displeasure at the inconvenience by honking their horns, while other supported the demonstrators right to do what they were doing.