Protesters Jam Chicago's Loop, Lake Shore Drive After NYC Chokehold Death Decision
The demonstrators were heard chanting "I can't breathe"
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Several protesters marching against police brutality sprinted onto the Southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway, briefly blocking traffic.
Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Chicago's Loop and stopped traffic on Lake Shore Drive and the Dan Ryan Expressway Thursday protesting a grand jury’s decision not to indict a New York City police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six.
Throughout all of the action, police said four people were ultimately charged with misdemeanors.
The protest started around 5 p.m. near State Street and Jackson Avenue and turned south on State Street. Police were seen blocking protesters from some streets as marchers moved toward Roosevelt and Wabash.
Hundreds of protesters were blocking traffic in Chicago’s Loop as part of a protest against police brutality.
The protesters began staging a "die in" at Roosevelt around 6 p.m., blocking traffic for roughly 10 minutes. Traffic in the area was already snarled ahead of a Chicago Bears game at Soldier Field.
The march intertwined with crowds of Bears fans walking to Soldier Field and blocked some roads in the process.
During the march, several protesters broke free from the group and sprinted past police, blocking the southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway briefly during rush hour before police forced them to the shoulder.
They were later seen marching down Lake Shore Drive, walking through stopped vehicles on the roadway.
The evening rally comes after hundreds of demonstrators blocked a Chicago intersection earlier in the afternoon as part of another protest against police brutality.
University of Chicago students stage a “die-in,” blocking traffic on the South Side in response to a New York grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner. Meanwhile, Father Michael Pfleger urges church congregations to stage their own protests come Sunday. Regina Waldroup reports.
The march began after activists hosted a "die in" on the University of Chicago campus where they lay in the grass and a student walkway chanting "I can’t breathe" and "no justice, no peace."
The demonstration and chant were sparked by amateur video showing Garner saying,
"I can’t breathe!" nearly a dozen times during a July altercation with police.
Protesters were urged to wear all black or all dark colors.
Organizers said the movement was focused on "the black lives that have repeatedly been stolen by a racist police system."
Only black students were seen on the ground during the "die in" with other students surrounding them holding signs and banners with the #BlackLivesMatter.
The demonstrators then marched to 55th Street and Woodlawn Avenue in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood and blocked traffic as they protested.
The protest was one of many around the country following the Staten Island grand jury decision and the Ferguson, Missouri decision.
AP, Files
Colin Kaepernick, left, takes a knee during the national anthem before a football game in 2016. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, right, raise their fists as a symbol of black power during the medal ceremony of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
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Extending gloved hands skyward in racial protest, U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos stare downward during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner after Smith received the gold and Carlos the bronze for the 200 meter run at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City on Oct. 16, 1968. Australian silver medalist Peter Norman is at left.
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In this Jan. 14, 1971, file photo, boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, gives a Black Power salute before entering Madison Square Garden to fight Argentinian boxer Oscar Bonavena in New York City.
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In this September 1972 file photo, Kenya's Julius Sang, right, and Olympic officials, left, stand at stiff attention during the playing of the American national anthem at the awards ceremony following the men's 400-meter run. At center, the American first and second placers, Vincent Matthews (hand on hip) and Wayne Collett (barefoot, holding shoes) stand at ease and chat. Collett eventually gave a black-power salute. "I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true," Collett was later quoted as saying. The pair were barred from competition after the display.
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In this Sept. 20, 1973, file photo, Billie Jean King plays a match against Bobby Riggs, (not pictured) in the "Battle of the Sexes" in the Houston Astrodome. In 1970, King along with eight other female tennis players formed their own tennis tour in protest of inequities in prize money and bonuses at tournaments where men got more than 10 times what women earned. King said beating Riggs helped open the doors for women tennis players. Later that year, King formed the Women's Tennis Association.
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In this March 15, 1996, file photo, Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf stands with his teammates and prays during the national anthem before the game with the Chicago Bulls. Abdul-Rauf, who said the U.S. flag was a symbol of "oppression and tyranny," was suspended earlier that week for sitting down during the national anthem. This photo was from Abdul-Rauf's first game back.
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In this April 1994 file photo, Toronto Blue Jays Carlos Delgado sits in the dugout with teammates during a game. Delgado did not stand for the U.S. national anthem in 2004 because he was against the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Delgado went on to play for the New York Mets and shortly retired his baseball career after a few years.
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In this Dec. 8, 2014, file photo, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center in New York. Dozens of athletes responded to confrontations between authorities and black citizens in Ferguson, Mo., New York and elsewhere by wearing T-shirts bearing such statements as "I Can't Breathe" and "Hands Up, Don't Shoot!"
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In this Sept. 12, 2016, file photo, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid of the San Francisco 49ers kneel in protest during the national anthem prior to playing the Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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USA's Megan Rapinoe, right, kneels next to teammates Christen Press (12), Ali Krieger (11), Crystal Dunn (16) and Ashlyn Harris (22) as the US national anthem is played before an exhibition soccer match against Netherlands Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in Atlanta. "I have chosen to kneel because I simply cannot stand for the kind of oppression this country is allowing against its own people," she wrote, before the U.S. women's national soccer team changed its policy to prevent the practice.
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In this Sept. 21, 2016, file photo, the Indiana Fever kneel during the national anthem before the game against the Phoenix Mercury during round one of the 2016 WNBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In New York, some protesters headed toward Rockefeller Center in an apparent effort to disrupt the tree lighting ceremony but were unable to get past police. Protesters there tried to mix with spectators, holding up signs and placards reading, “Black lives matter” and, “Once again injustice.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Wednesday he and the Garners, along with the families of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old killed in Ferguson, Missouri, by a police officer a grand jury also declined to indict, and Akai Gurley, the man killed by an NYPD officer in a dark Brooklyn housing project stairwell last month, will lead a national march in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13. Several other civil rights groups said Thursday they would join the march to kick of a year of focus on "justice and jobs."
