Protesters to target Chicago shopping area on Black Friday
CHICAGO — Small groups of demonstrators gathered again Wednesday to protest the death of a black teen shot by a white police officer, and they urged supporters to join them in trying to shut down Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue shopping district during Friday’s holiday shopping bonanza.
About two dozen protesters gathered outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall office on the day after authorities released a graphic squad-car video showing the officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Activist Mark Carter called on people to “rise up” and shut down the Magnificent Mile shopping area on Black Friday.
Van Dyke was the subject of 18 civilian complaints over 14 years, including allegations that he used racial epithets and excessive force, police and court records show.
[...] the number filed against Van Dyke was high, and at least one was linked to a civil trial where jurors awarded damages to someone he arrested.
For months, city officials and community leaders had feared that the release of the dash-cam video could provoke the kind of turmoil that occurred in cities such as Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, after young black men were slain by police or died in police custody.