By Jasmine Cen
About two hundred protestors took over the streets in downtown Chicago after the release of police shooting video of Laquan McDonald.
“Sixteen times”, the crowd chanted, as they started the march from Halsted and Roosevelt.
The protest initially started with about a hundred participants. As the group marched north, more joined in. According to a Revolutionary Communist Party activist, the group also started a spontaneous rally after the release. His group of twenty met the protestors on Michigan Avenue.
Many of the protestors were black female young adults.
According to the police officers on site, there were about a hundred policemen at the protest. A bicycle line was formed to keep protestors in their lanes.
It was a peaceful protest until the protestors broke the police bicycle line at Michigan and Balbo. Protestors jumped over police bicycles and confronted policemen. Three people were taken at the time.
“The world is watching, the world is watching,” as the protestors tried to stop police from taking away their peers.
The crowd headed back south after marching on South Michigan Avenue. As a circle was formed again to block the traffic at the intersection to Interstate 290, two automobiles were trapped in protestor’s chain.
After the pause, the protestors walked to the Chicago Police Department District 1 building, and the march continued into Wednesday morning.
Additional reporting by Mike Bacos
