Paralyzing traffic on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue, demonstrators used Black Friday’s prominence to declare that the mayor, police commissioner and prosecutor must step down.
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Chicago police released graphic video that captured the shooting death of Laquan McDonald on October 20, 2014 by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.
Hundreds of protesters galvanized by the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald closed a stretch of Michigan Avenue on Friday and blocked would-be customers from entering high-end, Magnificent Mile stores on what’s usually among the busiest shopping days of the year. After Van Dyke was formally charged and the court ordered the release of the first video, the Tribune obtained and posted videos from the dashboard cameras of five police cars at the scene.
Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times at about 9:50 p.m. a short distance from the Burger King.
Demonstrators block the entrance to Victoria’s Secret as they… The video’s release has set off days of largely peaceful but angry protests by young activists in Chicago’s downtown that has drawn national attention.
John Curran is vice president of the Magnificent Mile Association, which represents 780 businesses on North Michigan Avenue.
Protestors and Chicago city council’s black caucus calling for Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy to resign. “And we need to see real change happen”.
McDonald’s death has also been likened to that of Michael Brown – the black teenager also shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August a year ago.
There was a fracas involving a few dozen protesters at the Banana Republic which reportedly included some arrests.
In addition, they called on the US Justice Department to investigate the police department’s handling of the incident.
But protesters on the march succeeded in blocking main entrances on both sides of Michigan Avenue for more than three blocks.
“Some people may do that, I don’t know”, Jackson said. Despite calls on social media for protesters to turn out for Chicago’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday, no rallies materialized.
And even earlier Friday, not long after the start of the protests, the Rev. Jesse Jackson had been cut off as he spoke about the McDonald shooting.
Marchers tried to get inside the shopping center, but were kept out by police who held them back, and by locked doors when they were able to slip past police. The Tueller Drill was developed by Salt Lake City Police Officer Dennis Tueller, who among other things was a firearms instructor for his department.
“I think it’s those people’s right to protest, and I support their freedom to do that, so I’m just out here getting some shopping done, but good luck to anyone trying to fearless the weather”.
“The city, from what we can tell, covered up basically a murder, for either political gains or what have you”.
Van Dyke’s attorney, Daniel Herbert, said his client feared for his life in his encounter with McDonald, who was armed with a knife, and that the one video doesn’t tell the full story of events leading up to the shooting. “Racial tensions in Chicago have to change”, Nix said.
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Van Dyke then got out of his vehicle and opened fire.
