The protesters blocked retail stores on the “Magnificent Mile” by locking arms to form a human chain to prevent shoppers from entering the stores on the traditional Black Friday shopping day.
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After protesters began blocking other stores along Michigan Avenue, the front revolving doors at Water Tower Place were locked.
Dion Trotter, president of the Cook County chapter of the National Black Police Association, said a 13-month delay in releasing the video of Van Dyke shooting McDonald frayed relations with the community.
McDonald, the teenager whose death has generated this week’s protests, died on October 20, 2014.
Van Dyke is being held without bond.
The charges came just hours before the court-ordered release of the dashboard camera video that shows the officer shooting McDonald, who was holding a knife and had PCP in his system at the time of his death.
Second, the Chicago Police Department had objected to the release of the dash-cam video on grounds that it could jeopardize its ongoing investigation into the shooting.
Demonstrators protest the shooting of Laquan McDonald along the Magnificent Mile on November 27, 2015 in Chicago, Ill.
Frank Chapman, 73, of Chicago, said the video confirms what activists have said for years about Chicago police brutality. McCarthy defended his administration in a press conference, saying, “If people peel away the onion on what’s happening right now in the policing world, you’re going to find a police department that’s doing an exceptional job”.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said the video is unlike anything she has seen in three decades in law enforcement.
“That’s why we’re not having problems that other cities are having, or have had in the past”, McCarthy said before Friday’s march.
We will show the city that we intend to disrupt its economic center as we call on people of good will to join us in our fight for justice for Laquan and other victims of questionable and unjust police shootings in our city, union President Karen Lewis said in a statement.
Store employees were directing shoppers to exit from side doors. One protester told a local news reporter, “The fact that all of us need to be here shutting down commerce in order to maybe get people to think that black lives are important, as everyone else is, is really sick!” “After seeing the video, I’m not surprised they’re marching”, said Steve McCoy.
All previous marches have been largely peaceful. Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder.
And last week, Chicago’s police chief advocated firing Det. The officer is no longer being paid by the Chicago Police Department. Van Dyke, the official story holds, fired on the youth only to protect himself and his partner from a potentially lethal attack. Gary Nix, of South Chicago, waved an American flag in the middle of the street in support of both the protesters and the police, who he says are not represented by Officer Van Dyke. Several protesters said they were parents of black men who were killed by Chicago officers.
“A police officer sees that video and has a different mindset than the rest of the people out there”.
Among other issues, Chicago and other cities will have to determine, like the rest of us, how to adjust to the new video age, an age that exposes so much to public view that used to be swept under various rugs.
In addition to calling for the removal of Alvarez and McCarthy, Jackson demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor to try Van Dyke.
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Nilo Khan, another shopper turned away from Zara, told the Tribune, “We’re not trying to stop them from protesting, so why should they stop us from shopping?”
