Expect the protests to continue.
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All protests yesterday were peaceful; mainly involving chants, placards and blocking entrances to stores. Only 10 people have been arrested in Chicago this week. But worse than that… the city and the [authorities] union didn’t tell the facts about what occurred, they both said hours after the shooting that this young man lunged at authorities.
Dozens of protesters also blocked doors at Neiman Marcus, Saks and Tiffany & Co.
In Chicago, along the stretch known as the Magnificent Mile, traffic snarled and was rerouted as shoppers stopped along the sidewalk, stared, and took video with their phones.
Was Black Friday a good day for Laquan McDonald protesters to target? “And I’m personally grateful to the people of my hometown for keeping protests peaceful”. “They have the ability to destabilize city administrations, especially ones that attempt to seriously investigate and reform police department practices”.
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.
The new iPhones seemed tantalizingly within reach – separated from the cold, rainy street only by the spotless glass facade of the North Michigan Avenue Apple store, and a line of protesters, determined to keep would-be shoppers out.
Maze Jackson said the conflict developed because black parents had begun the protests over McDonald’s death and others sought to grab the limelight at Friday’s event.
Skirmishes broke out between protesters and police, who surrounded officers after they apparently made arrests. We’re trying to help them do what they want to do, quite frankly, and we’re going to do it in a professional manner; but we will not allow criminal behavior, quite frankly. “Our voices need to be heard everyday and these past few days we’ve shown that they can be heard peacefully”. We can’t afford to let the embarrassments of other places happen here.
“We are aware of the various protests happening here in Chicago and across the country”, said Mitchell Feldman, senior general manager of Water Tower Place shopping centre.
According to the Tribune, the Chicago Police Department requires its officers to use in-car video if the vehicle is equipped with it.
When the protesters marched along Michigan Avenue, they shouted “Stop the cover-up, 16 shots” in a show of the outrage that it took so long to charge Van Dyke when there was clear evidence he was never threatened by McDonald.
Security guards at the multi-story mall anchored by Macy’s on one side and American Girl on the other asked shoppers inside to leave out the back entrance, across from the connected Ritz-Carlton hotel.
“No justice, no peace, no racist police”, the crowd chanted as they marched north on Michigan Ave. The city’s busiest shopping area, home to high end designer stores.
More demonstrations are planned Saturday, a day after protesters disrupted Black Friday shopping on the Magnificent Mile. Garry McCarthy to resign over their handling of the case.
Van Dyke’s attorney has said the officer feared for his life when he fired at McDonald and that the case should be tried in the courtroom, not in social media or on city streets.
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“See this lovely black lady? Don’t go halfway, go all the way”, Johnson said. The Reverend Marshall Hatch, chairman of the Leaders Network of Chicago, told ABC7 Eyewitness News Friday morning that Laquan McDonald’s death affected many people in Chicago’s neighborhoods and they want the rest of the city to see how.
