Several hundred people blocked shoppers from stores on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Thursday, in a “Black Christmas” response protesting recent cop shootings of black men.
In a peaceful protest that began midday on Christmas Eve, marchers held “die-ins” where they stopped and laid down in the street every block or so, forcing police to block traffic. The demonstration was smaller than a similar one held on Black Friday, also on Michigan Ave.
“Laquan McDonald on the ground, this is why we lay down,” they chanted, referring to a 17-year-old black man who was shot 16 times by a white police officer last year. Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder, and the incident has led to calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign.
Bystanders told the Chicago Tribune that the demonstration remained peaceful, although at times police officers had to escort last-minute shoppers inside stores.
Activists who are part of the Black Lives Matter movement have organized multiple protests in Chicago ever since a video of the shooting surfaced this fall. The protests are part of a series of demonstrations in cities across the U.S. prompted by the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
In another protest this week, Black Lives Matter demonstrators blocked roadways to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and blocked traffic near the San Francisco International Airport.
