In The Wake of Laquan MacDonald – An anti-violence protest briefly shut down Lake Shore Drive August 2nd, with around 400 protesters then marching up Clark Street toward Wrigley Field as a Cubs game was set to start.
The protest sought to draw attention to gun violence in low-income, predominantly black neighborhoods, as well as police brutality in the wake of the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan MacDonald.
Protesters demanded the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, claiming his lack of oversight into Chicago Police Department practices has perpetuated corruption in blatant cases of police brutality, such as the shooting of MacDonald, where three police officers are accused of covering up the actions of officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot MacDonald 16 times. A 2017 Department of Justice report on the Chicago Police Department revealed evidence of agreements between officers to hide wrongdoing.