17 people were arrested at a protest on Lake Shore Drive Saturday afternoon, according to Chicago Police.
Protesters blocked traffic in both directions at Jackson Blvd at around 12 p.m. Saturday, calling for a financial commitment to Chicago State University and the firing of a Chicago Police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman in 2012.
Chicago State University laid off more than 300 employees Friday night amid continuing financial woes caused by the state budget impasse.
Chicago police officer Dante Servin, who shot and killed 22-year-old Rekia Boyd in March 2012, was acquitted by a judge in 2015 of charges of involuntary manslaughter.
"Decision makers at the local and state levels have made it clear where their financial priorities lie. We continue to receive cuts to the institutions that keep Black women safe--institutions that continue to be replaced by terrorist cops who brutalize and murder Black women without penalty," read a statement from groups organizing the protest, including Assata’s Daughters and Black Lives Matter: Chicago.
Participants blocked Lake Shore Drive in an effort to disrupt the NFL Draft's events. Organizers said the protest was specifically made up of mostly black women.
The Chicago Police Department said approximately fifty people participated in the protest to disrupt traffic, which reopened shortly before 1 p.m. No injuries were reported.
