After another day of protests and rallies across the city of Chicago, several bridges were left raised over the Chicago River to limit access into the downtown business district. NBC 5’s Lisa Chavarria has the story.
After another day of protests and rallies across the city of Chicago, several bridges were left raised over the Chicago River to limit access into the downtown business district.
Numerous protests took place in Grant Park Saturday afternoon, with marches making their way through the city during the evening hours. City officials raised bridges at Michigan Avenue and Wabash Avenue, and both spans were left raised through the overnight hours and into Sunday morning.
It is unknown at this time when the bridges will be lowered.
City trucks from multiple departments were also deployed around the Loop and Central Business District to help with traffic and crowd control, according to officials.
“The trucks are staged at various locations to help us manage potentially large crowds,” a city spokeswoman said. “It is standard practice for CPD to put public safety protocols in place, including managing and redirecting the flow of vehicular traffic in order to ensure the safety of participants during large-scale events and protests.”
Numerous CTA train and bus lines also saw service impacts from the protests, with Red Line trains bypassing stops at 35th-Sox and Chicago and State. Most of those routes have been restored, but more route changes are possible Sunday as more protests are planned in the city.
One of the larger protests planned for Sunday will take place at Arrigo Park Sunday morning, as a rally will take place to protest the removal of statues of Christopher Columbus last week.
