“There are some very good things about the Chicago Police Department that I found when I got here”, McCarthy said this week. A sidewalk saxophonist blew his horn, people stood on grassy medians to take pictures and frustrated tourists made their way down the middle of the street after being forced off sidewalks. The shopping outlet on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile leads to one of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods, the Gold Coast.
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Several police officers lined up across the doors of Nordstrom on Michigan Avenue to let people pass in and out. Tension was noticeable in some stores; at a Walgreen’s, an employee had a panic attack and had to be carried out by medics. Security guards persuaded shoppers to use an unobvious back door to get in. Some even snapped photos of the crowd. The city also released a graphic dashboard video of McDonald being shot 16 times in 15 seconds.
The trade organization representing stores along the retail corridor said sales were off on what traditionally is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
A group of protesters cut off the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s speech on Laquan McDonald’s deadly shooting short Friday when they pulled the leader’s microphone and stormed the podium while he spoke outside the historic Water Tower.
Protests in recent days have been largely peaceful. “It’s tough to be a police officer”, Bush said. The officers are not responding. And they have asked why Van Dyke continued to collect a paycheck for more than a year after he shot McDonald near 41st Street and Pulaski Road.
Monica Xue, a Chinese tourist visiting from California, told Xinhua that she didn’t mind the disruptions.
She nodded as her companion, Jay Krishnamurthy, 54, said, “the whole South Side is on fire”.
The march started at MI and Wacker Drive and began walking north. They include demonstrators from the Nation of Islam, which is marching under the banner of “Justice of Else”; RevCom, the Revolutionary Communist Party, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH coalition. Justice. When do we want it?
Despite chilly temperatures and rain, Friday’s rally saw more people gather than in previous protests on Tuesday and Wednesday. “16 shots!” stopped traffic for blocks for up to an hour, expressing their anger over the October 20, 2014, killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and the subsequent investigation that they say was mishandled.
An association representing hundreds of high-end retailers, hotels and restaurants in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile district says it’s confident authorities will maintain order for thousands of Black Friday shoppers as groups protest a 2014 police shooting. However in that description was contradicted by an eyewitness in that night who 1st observed McDonald making an attempt to pull up his trousers as he ran via the Burger King parking zone with cops officers trailing him. Taking Friday’s demonstrations to the city’s main shopping area ensures high visibility.
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.
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And protests there are nothing new.
