Protesters Continue Calls For Emanuel, Alvarez To Step Down

Despite Emanuel issuing an apology, several prominent Chicago pastors have rejected Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s gesture of forgiveness and are demanding that his administration release yet another dash cam recording in which a white police officer fatally shot seventeen-year-old Cedrick Chatman.

However, if NBC Chicago’s reporting has indeed uncovered the first evidence that Emanuel’s office was aware that the story his police department was pushing was dishonest, the news will bolster calls for the mayor’s resignation.

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Chicago and staged “die-ins” on Thursday, calling for the resignation of embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel one day after he emotionally apologised for the 2014 police shooting of a 17-year-old black teenager.

The country’s third-largest city has experienced more than two weeks of protests since the release of the video of the shooting in which McDonald was hit 16 times.

The Rev. Marvin Hunter, center, the great uncle of Laquan McDonald, accompanied by other family members and supporters, speaks at a news conference Friday, Dec. 11, 2015, in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice opens a sweeping probe of Chicago Police Department patterns and practices going back decades.

“What we’re feeling in Chicago is the real feeling of America in itself, and that is injustice towards people of color and poor people in this country”, he said, adding that the “only way to keep things like what has happened to Laquan from happening is we must have the proper resources for economic development, for housing, for health care, for mental health”.

The city is fighting the release of that video, arguing that it could prejudice would-be jurors if the case goes to trial. The family has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that Johnson was not armed.

Alvarez has defended the delay in bringing charges against Van Dyke, calling it a complex investigation. Hunter is the great-uncle of McDonald. Emanuel apologized this week.

An analysis by the Chicago Tribune notes that as of Friday, there have been 2,818 shootings in the city this year. He fired the police chief and named a new head of the police review agency that investigates police conduct.

Carson said he has seen the video and condemned the delayed timing of the release of the video, claiming that it was “hidden” from the public for “political reasons”.