Some Stores Temporarily Shut Down by Black Friday Protesters in Chicago

Chicago police blocked off roads to accommodate the march down Michigan Avenue, and officers in some areas formed a barrier of sorts between protesters and stores and helped shoppers get through the doors. The Tribune reported that Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and U.S. Reps.

Despite the protests, shoppers continued to roam the streets, but certain major retailers were forced to shut down.

There was an element of the surreal throughout the day.

Although the protests hampered traffic along one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares during one of the busiest shopping days of the year, some expressed support for the protests. At times, police had to escort shoppers inside.

On Friday a protest march was held in Chicago’s shopping district, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the middle of a crowd that’s shouting, “What do we want?” Either they ignored the complaints because they too have their own share of related complaints or have similar opinions or just brushed it under the rug with the old school assumption that complaints are just par for the job.

At the normally bustling Apple store, reports say, “tons of workers in red shirts stood in an otherwise empty two-story space and saw through store windows as protesters linked arms to prevent anyone from entering”. A few stores simply locked their doors.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, hundreds of people filled a church to pay their respects to a man whose death in an unrelated confrontation with police sparked more than a week of ongoing protests.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the tactic. “Not anymore though”, the protester said.

“People will not rest”, said Hatch, senior pastor at New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church of West Garfield in Chicago. “I feel sorry for him, and what they did is wrong, but don’t take away other people’s freedom”.

Even though Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez defended herself and Mayor Rahm Emanuel Tuesday after critics slammed both of them for delays in filing charges so late/400 days to be exac against VanDyke, who fatally shot teenager, La Quan McDonald. She also added that they wanted to make sure they were following all the rules so the indictment would not be dismissed due to tainted evidence. “Don’t go halfway, go all the way”, Johnson said. He said the protests seemed peaceful. On Thursday afternoon, police said they had made a total of just nine arrests.

More demonstrations are planned Saturday, a day after protesters disrupted Black Friday shopping on the Magnificent Mile. The tax, which will rise to 10.25 percent, affects Chicago more than any other city in her jurisdiction.

Max Thomas said he was born and raised in Chicago’s south side, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, and he’s exhausted of experiencing segregation.

“The path forward is to keep people united, to keep people watching out for each other, to try to teach people to treat each other with respect and kindness”.

Fleming says: “to the black community, if you put your guns down we will united in peace and cripple the city”.

Protesters in Chicago vented their fury at a Christmas tree at Millennium Park, destroying it after a black teenager was shot by a police officer. After chatting with officers on the scene, Camden described the very 1st cops officers account of why Officer Jason Van Dyke fired the fatal shots putting LaQuan McDonald.

Emanuel, appealing for calm, now says it is time for “healing” in Chicago. Van Dyke’s next court appearance is on November 30.

The problem starts in the mayor’s office; implicates the police department’s top brass, the police nion and rank-and-file officers; and runs through the city’s nominally independent police review authority, which routinely dismisses allegations of police wrongdoing.