Protesters take aim at Chicago shopping district

Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder in McDonald’s death. For Chicago, like for so many other US cities, police murder and brutality is not a new phenomenon, but a common reality. The group’s Black Christmas March protest began at 12 p.m. Thursday at MI and Wacker.

Protesters plan to again block the entrances to many Michigan Avenue stores on Thursday, disrupting last-minute shoppers and sales on the last shopping day of the holiday season.

Organizers are hoping to recapture the energy of the march held on Black Friday. From there, protesters walked north on Michigan Avenue, sometimes stopping to lie down in the street. The skirmish came about three hours into what had been a mostly peaceful demonstration.

“While body cameras are just one tool and not the only reform needed, this technology will soon be a regular part of every interaction – routine or extraordinary – between residents and police officers in more communities across our city”, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in the announcement. The city didn’t release the video until months after Emanuel won a runoff re-election in April.

In a statement earlier this month, Sanders called for the resignation of “any elected official” in Chicago who knew that a recording was improperly withheld in the case.

The reasons why Emmanuel’s office wanted the tape kept secret are clear to anyone who watches it. At the time, Emmanuel was running in a tight re-election campaign against progressive challenger Chuy Garcia, forcing the Mayor’s race into a run-off for the first time in Chicago electoral history. “This guy is walking away, but he’s got a knife in hand”.

“The Magnificent Mile is like the Champs-Élysées of Chicago; its where all the high-end shops and hotels are and it’s where all the tourists go”, Perez said. In the latest release on Thursday morning, The Huffington Post said the audio was turned over to Politico and NBC Chicago after Freedom Of Information Act requests.

The audio comes after a firestorm of controversy erupted after a judge ordered the release of video that shows the fatal encounter between the teen and a police officer.

It remains unclear which officer requested the Taser or whether an officer with a stun gun arrived on the scene.