Protesters taunt cops for teen
Police fear ‘ambush style’ tactics by gangs
CHICAGO: Angry protesters hit the streets and taunted police for a second night early yesterday following the release of a dramatic video showing a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting a black teenager in a hail of 16 bullets.
The mood in some neighbourhoods was tense. An internal Chicago Police Department safety alert distributed to police officers warned that gang members may be looking to carry out an ambush against cops in retaliation for the Laquan McDonald killing.
The memo was issued following the release of a chilling police video on Tuesday night that shows Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old McDonald 16 times. Prosecutors charged Mr Van Dyke with first-degree murder.
A small crowd of protesters gathered on the State Street shopping corridor early on Wednesday evening, shouting “justice for Laquan” and “16 shots” as shoppers and office workers hurrying for trains and buses looked on. The protesters marched along Michigan Avenue and the noted Magnificent Mile high-society shopping district, chanting as they passed upscale stores such as Cartier, Apple and Nike.
One protester, Lamon Reccord, 16, repeatedly approached police, putting his face within inches of the men. He then dared them to “shoot me 16 times”.
“I want them to look me in the eye and recognise just because they have a badge it doesn’t mean I’m someone they can treat” like dirt, he said.
US President Barack Obama, a Chicago native, posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday that he watched the video of McDonald’s death.
“Like many Americans, I was deeply disturbed by the footage of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald,” Mr Obama posted. “This Thanksgiving, I ask everybody to keep those who’ve suffered tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers and to be thankful for the overwhelming majority of men and women in uniform who protect our communities with honour. And I’m personally grateful to the people of my hometown for keeping protests peaceful.”
The internal document distributed by Chicago police suggests supervisors were warning officers to be prepared for gang members to take advantage of the moment to target cops on the streets.
Wednesday’s protests were far smaller than the previous evening, when demonstrators managed to cause traffic jams and briefly block on and off ramps on some of the city’s expressways. As of 10.30pm, two protesters were arrested.
Around 11pm, protests began to grow more aggressive. Protesters tore down barricades near Millennium Park, which were quickly put back up by officers. Some Christmas lights were also torn down at Trump Tower, where security prevented protesters from entering the building.
“The information indicates that gang members may utilise ambush-style tactics in order to shoot police officers in retaliation to recently publicised events,” said a safety alert obtained by a law enforcement official.
The official was not authorised to distribute the document and asked not to be identified. The document, produced by the department’s crime control strategies division and marked “law enforcement sensitive” indicates that gang members in the 12th and 14th districts on the city’s West Side, may look to target officers who work in that area.
The department typically gleans such information from informants and through monitoring of social media, said the official.
“The information indicates that officers leaving the police stations could be targeted because officers will not be on guard or ready if fired upon,” the alert says. “Also officers could be drawn to dead-end streets, distracted or baited, and then shot while inside their patrol vehicles.”
Chicago Police Department’s news affairs division and Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment about the alert. Organisers from Stop Mass Incarceration Network Chicago called for more protests in Chicago’s Loop and in the busy retail strip along north Michigan Avenue on Friday.
On Tuesday night, crowds of well over 200 people marched through downtown streets chanting “16 shots”.
Scores of protesters clashed mildly with police late into the evening, occasionally pushing and shoving with officers in heated confrontations. Five were arrested.