‘Black Christmas’ protest planned for Chicago’s Mag Mile today

Protesters on the Mag Mile on Christmas EveOrganizers said they are taking the Christmas Eve protest, one of many in the past months following the release of the Laquan McDonald police shooting video, to a place where city officials will feel it: Michigan Avenue on a busy shopping day.

It is common for the police to shoot people here in the US, especially African American men, said the protester.

Through repeated protests, activists – many of whom are calling for Emanuel’s resignation – hope to bring attention to Chicago’s racial and economic inequalities.

The Christmas Eve protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations in the city since the release last month of police video showing a white officer shooting a black teenager 16 times.

“Our marches have learned from Baltimore and Ferguson and that’s why they’ve been so wonderfully peaceful and organized and at the same time, impactful and effective”, Livingston noted. He was reelected to a second term as mayor on February 20. Police officers manning a bicycle barricade on Michigan Avenue took two protesters into custody after a scuffle during which police bikes were overturned.

“Someone have a Taser?” one officer is heard asking.

The march, which organizers are calling “Black Christmas” will kick off at noon. But Emanuel and the department have faced heavy criticism over officers’ treatment of suspects. The area is one of the largest shopping attractions in the Midwest and hosts many high-end stores and hotels.

“If the question is, do I want or need Rahm Emanuel’s support for president, with all due respect for the mayor, no I don’t”, Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, told reporters Wednesday during a swing through Chicago, according to The Washington Post and other media outlets.

Police frequently use lethal force in Chicago, killing an average of 17 people a year over the past seven years.

Van Dyke had opened fire on McDonald and kept shooting after the teen crumpled to the ground.

For more than a year, the department refused requests for the dashcam video to be released. McDonald was carrying a knife, but appeared to be walking away from officers before the shooting in October 2014.

The dashcam recordings have no audio.

An officer who first responded to reports that Laquan McDonald was breaking into trucks requested an officer with a taser, dispatch audio revealed Thursday.

It’s not clear from the radio calls whether any officers were at the scene with a Taser before McDonald was shot.