Why is Obama not speaking up about Rahm Emanuel’s crisis?

“The protesters refuse to accept Mayor Emanuel’s attempts to placate the public in the aftermath of disclosures about the Mayor’s Office’s suppression of public release of information of the police murdering Laquan McDonald”.

A Chicago-based state legislator, citing the public’s lack of confidence in Emanuel filed a bill that would allow for a recall election of the mayor.

A Democrat, Emanuel has been mayor of Chicago – President Barack Obama’s hometown – since 2011.

Police arrested 16-year-old Lamon Reccord early on in the march on the street near the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, setting off several tense minutes in which protesters surrounded the police vehicle he was held in while chanting for his release.

For years, watchdogs, lawyers and journalists have documented instances of police misconduct, including violent episodes caught on video and then subjected to the same silent treatment that almost buried the death of black teenager Laquan McDonald, who was shot to death by a white Chicago police officer in October 2014.

At least three protests had been scheduled for today as Emanuel addressed the Chicago City Council in the morning in a special meeting called to discuss police misconduct and the measures the city is now taking to curb the problem. How do we balance concerns against prematurely releasing evidence and jeopardizing prosecutions with the community’s right to see such material in a timely way?

Reccord, a native of the Chatham neighborhood who has become a leader among young activists since a photo of him staring down a police officer went viral, blew a whistle and served as the group’s impromptu navigator. “We’re going to get this done now”, Livingston said.

The truth is that the City Council has been signing off on multimillion-dollar legal settlements over police brutality for far longer than Emanuel has been mayor.

The Chicago agency that investigates all police-involved shootings, the Independent Police Review Authority, deemed that shooting justified.

“I could not come through until I produced identification even though my picture was on the wall”, she said.

Emanuel fired police chief Garry McCarthy last week in the wake of the video’s release, saying public trust in McCarthy’s leadership had been “shaken and eroded”.

Alvarez has defended her office, calling it a complex investigation.

The skepticism of Emanuel’s promises extended to Chicago’s streets, where crowds of protesters marched and blocked traffic near City Hall at midday and demanded Emanuel’s resignation.

Emanuel’s efforts to appease critics since the release of the video have done little, and now the city streets are filled with protesters.

The protests have largely been peaceful, with demonstrators calling for Emanuel and the county’s top prosecutor to resign. Mayor Emanuel was re-elected in a runoff election last April, leading by ten percent.

Dorothy Holmes, mother of Ronald Johnson, told protesters she didn’t accept Emanuel’s apology or “fake (expletive) tears”.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it will launch a civil rights investigation into the city’s police department, examining its use of force, including deadly force, among other issues.

“I’m a keep on fighting”, she said, “because if it was left up to me, she’d need a DOC (Department of Corrections) suit on”.

Other protests are planned Thursday, including a 5 p.m. rally.

Lorenzo Davis, former supervising investigator of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, told CNN on Thursday the mayor should resign because he is “a bad judge of character”.