Police protests resume in downtown Chicago a day after mayor’s apology

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he won’t relinquish his post, but an Illinois State Representative is calling his bluff amid widespread city protests this week surrounding the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald and its fallout.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, in a brief phone interview with Reuters, said the mayor was facing a “sea of distrust” with his constituents, in large part because of his handling of the McDonald shooting. “I think it’s quite clear that many of them will make that determination based on how he takes responsibility for and follows through on his commitment to implement needed reforms in the Chicago Police Department”. Supervision and leadership in the police department and the oversight agencies that were in place failed.

The McDonald case, in which a white police officer shot the black teen 16 times, including as he lay motionless, became the most well known example after dash-cam footage was released 13 months after the fact on November 24.

Dane Tucker, a retired Chicago firefighter who believes Emanuel should step down, brought his 10-year-old grandson to the protest. Emanuel referred to a “code of silence”.

Ford said the protesters in Chicago could create the momentum to get his new bill a vote.

The newspaper reports the county officers’ presence was discovered on video recently released by city officials.

Emanuel said last week that he has no intention of resigning.

“People are hurt, people have died, people feel that they are forgotten about in the city of Chicago”, the Chicago Democrat added.

Hundreds of mostly young demonstrators eventually turned out, temporarily shutting down some streets and chanting “no more killer cops” and ‘Rahm must go’. “Be a co-conspirator with me because I plan on covering this up.'” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said. “We’re not going to wait three years”. At one point, a fight broke out. She kept reinforcing to the crowd that this would be a peaceful protest.

Chatman was suspected of carjacking and ran when confronted by police officers.

Alas for poor the poor mayor, nobody thinks that’s good enough.

The most high-profile case relates to McDonald.

Protesters also called for the resignation of Alvarez, who has been criticized for taking more than a year to charge Van Dyke. The furor grew when the public learned about the other officers’ accounts.

Some protesters are carrying signs with photographs of people shot and killed by police officers. The video shows six officers – several of whom appear to be black – entering Coleman’s cell.

There also has been renewed focus on 17-year-old Cedrick LaMont Chatman, whose 2013 death near a bus stop was captured by four video cameras. The newly named head of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, Sharon Fairley, said the inspector general’s involvement was important for “public confidence”.

She invited “tons of people” and expected it to bounce around the web as a viral “joke”, she said.

“Laquan McDonald’s death was totally avoidable”, Emanuel said. The city made a $5 million settlement to McDonald’s family after Emanuel’s re-election in April, and critics have complained that it took too long to charge Van Dyke.

The mayor said Chicago’s police must patiently build relationships, sit with parents, sit with youths, listen and be mentors.

While a police review board found the officers’ actions justified, Emanuel said Monday that he didn’t see how the treatment of Coleman “could possibly be acceptable”. “It is a whole other thing to build friendships and relationships, which are integral to fighting crime”. “What happened on October 20, 2014 should have never happened”. He says an insider would be the best person for the job.

Mr Emanuel welcomed the investigation, which he said would bolster efforts to create a police force that “keeps the community safe while respecting the civil rights of every Chicagoan”, he said in a press release reported by the Associated Press.