Protesters Disrupt Chicago Shopping Zone Over Police Conduct

Protestors rally in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district calling for an elected civilian police oversight council. Protestors also decried fatal shootings by Chicago police that occurred Wednesday night and Friday morning.
Protestors in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district rally to call for an elected civilian police oversight council. Demonstrators and speakers also decried fatal shootings by Chicago police that occurred Wednesday night and Friday morning. Courtesy of Seth Gilbert
Protestors rally in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district calling for an elected civilian police oversight council. Protestors also decried fatal shootings by Chicago police that occurred Wednesday night and Friday morning.
Protestors in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district rally to call for an elected civilian police oversight council. Demonstrators and speakers also decried fatal shootings by Chicago police that occurred Wednesday night and Friday morning. Courtesy of Seth Gilbert

Protesters Disrupt Chicago Shopping Zone Over Police Conduct

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Updated 2:56 P.M.

CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of protesters disrupted Black Friday shopping in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile district demanding an elected civilian police review board. A determined and peaceful crowd rallied Friday morning near the city’s historic Old Water Tower. 

A similar protest occurred a year ago after the release of a video showing a white police officer shooting black teen Laquan McDonald.

Kofi Ademola, of Black Lives Matter Chicago, bemoaned that a year later investigations are underway into two police shootings of black men in the past three weeks — including one Wednesday. 

Kofi Ademola of Black Lives Matter Chicago speaks at a rally in the Magnificent Mile shopping district on Friday. Protestors were calling for an elected civilian police review board. (Courtesy of Seth Gilbert)

Speakers criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel and President-elect Donald Trump in the same breath before marching and chanting down Michigan Avenue. Activists seek an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council. 

(Courtesy of Seth Gilbert)

City officials have said they plan to create a non-elected citizen oversight board next year.