http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-five-things-protest-dan-ryan-20180706-story.html
On this much police and activist South Side priest Michael Pfleger can agree: Saturday morning’s anti-violence march on the Dan Ryan Expressway is all about danger.
Pfleger — and perhaps hundreds of others — plan to shut down traffic on the expressway to send a message: Elected leaders must fix neighborhood schools and create better job prospects to supplant the violence plaguing some pockets of the city. In 2016, gun violence reached levels that had not been seen in 20 years, according to data kept by the Tribune. And while the number of shootings victims has decreased since then, it’s still higher than 2015 and 2014.
“We’re still on target to go,” Pfleger told the Tribune Thursday. “I can’t predict anything right now, but we’re taking a page from the civil rights movement. When nothing else was working, civil disobedience is what eventually made authorities and the government listen.”
Law enforcement officials have asked Pfleger to reconsider, saying the protesters are putting their lives on the line by walking onto a busy expressway. In fact, Illinois State police troopers, who have jurisdiction over Chicago expressways, will try to stop protesters from getting on the Dan Ryan — and arrests will be made, if necessary.
READ MORE: How to get around Saturday if anti-violence protest blocks the Dan Ryan »
“If people break the law, we may have to arrest people. But that’s not what our goal is here,” Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said at a news conference earlier this week, adding: “Our goal is to save lives, whether it be the young children or people in the city or motorists. We just don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
Pfleger and other protesters are demanding sit-down meetings with Gov. Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other elected officials — along with those running for office — to discuss solutions to gun violence.
protesters marched on the southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway for an estimated five to 10 minutes in response to the deaths of two African-American men who were killed during confrontations with police in Minnesota and Louisiana. Last year, activists and homeless protesters briefly halted traffic on Lake Shore Drive to protest the city’s decision to clear viaducts in Uptown. There also were a few Lake Shore Drive shutdowns by protesters after grand juries decided not to indict police officers in the police shootings of men in New York and Ferguson, Mo.
On this much police and activist South Side priest Michael Pfleger can agree: Saturday morning’s anti-violence march on the Dan Ryan Expressway is all about danger.
Pfleger — and perhaps hundreds of others — plan to shut down traffic on the expressway to send a message: Elected leaders must fix neighborhood schools and create better job prospects to supplant the violence plaguing some pockets of the city. In 2016, gun violence reached levels that had not been seen in 20 years, according to data kept by the Tribune. And while the number of shootings victims has decreased since then, it’s still higher than 2015 and 2014.
“We’re still on target to go,” Pfleger told the Tribune Thursday. “I can’t predict anything right now, but we’re taking a page from the civil rights movement. When nothing else was working, civil disobedience is what eventually made authorities and the government listen.”
Law enforcement officials have asked Pfleger to reconsider, saying the protesters are putting their lives on the line by walking onto a busy expressway. In fact, Illinois State police troopers, who have jurisdiction over Chicago expressways, will try to stop protesters from getting on the Dan Ryan — and arrests will be made, if necessary.
READ MORE: How to get around Saturday if anti-violence protest blocks the Dan Ryan »
“If people break the law, we may have to arrest people. But that’s not what our goal is here,” Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said at a news conference earlier this week, adding: “Our goal is to save lives, whether it be the young children or people in the city or motorists. We just don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
Pfleger and other protesters are demanding sit-down meetings with Gov. Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other elected officials — along with those running for office — to discuss solutions to gun violence.
protesters marched on the southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway for an estimated five to 10 minutes in response to the deaths of two African-American men who were killed during confrontations with police in Minnesota and Louisiana. Last year, activists and homeless protesters briefly halted traffic on Lake Shore Drive to protest the city’s decision to clear viaducts in Uptown. There also were a few Lake Shore Drive shutdowns by protesters after grand juries decided not to indict police officers in the police shootings of men in New York and Ferguson, Mo.
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