Thousands protest police shooting in Chicago, disrupting Black Friday shopping

He is accused of shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times just six seconds after emerging from his patrol auto on October 20, 2014.

Instead it shows the teen, reportedly with PCP in his system, holding a small knife but moving away from police when Van Dyke opens fire – and inexplicably keeps firing at McDonald’s flinching body on the ground. He was ordered held in the county jail without bond.

Fridays march expanded the protest beyond the single event of McDonalds shooting to the leadership of the police department.

Frank Chapman, 73, of Chicago, said the video confirms what activists have said for years about Chicago police brutality. That recollection of the shooting was later debunked in an article from the Atlantic. His attorney said Van Dyke feared for his life when he fired at McDonald and that the case should be tried in a courtroom, not the court of public opinion.

This time in Chicago, the police coverup failed.

Many protesters implied that Chicago officials were motivated to withhold the release of the video until after the mayoral election.

Other shoppers walked with the protesters in order to make their way to their destinations.

The Chicago Teachers Union is encouraging its members to join a march in Chicago’s shopping district to protest the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.

In the six-minute video, McDonald is seen jogging down Pulaski Road when Van Dyke and another police officer step out from their vehicle carrying their guns.

In 2012, there were 503 homicides in Chicago, the most in any American city.

Led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and other black leaders, protesters flowed across the elegant thoroughfare, also called Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, which leads to the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood.

Employees at Crate & Barrel reported that protesters were shoving customers inside the four-story store. The Chicago protests have been primarily peaceful.

There was a fracas involving a few dozen protesters at the Banana Republic which reportedly included some arrests.

Black Friday shoppers were taken aback by the scene of people locked arm in arm, chanting the name of Laquan McDonald while asking for justice. The review board ruled Van Dyke was justified but one has to wonder if the officer would have reacted in the same manner if the suspect was not black.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest and prominent local activist, said he thought Friday’s protest would cost businesses money because the publicity surrounding it would discourage shoppers from even venturing into the area. If the statement to be was to hit the city where it hurts – financially, protesting in the Magnificent Mile was the loudest way to do so.

She said it was clear McDonald didn’t pose a threat to the officer and that his use of force was improper. Stores lost out on sales.

The voters will determine in march whether or not she will feel that her choice was the right one March 1-the day after the election.

So the young people know that we, the old guard, we support them. In 2014 there were 411; Laquan McDonald was one of them.

Ironically, it was Cook County President Preckwinkle who pushed for a raise in the county sale’s tax just a week prior.

What continues to roil the black community is that police and prosecutor Alvarez waited 400 days to release the tape, well after a spring election in which Emanuel faced stiff competition and had to undergo the first runoff election in Chicago history, an eyebrow-raising moment for an incumbent in a city renowned for its “machine”-like politics. The black criminals, and all the violence that goes on in the city of Chicago, the fine city of Chicago…”