Protesters angered over police misconduct in Chicago briefly interrupted an annual Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast held Friday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — punctuating the decision by dozens of ministers from throughout the city to boycott the annual event.
Between 50 to 60 religious leaders said they would boycott the event to protest the mayor’s handling of the police shooting that killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and other cases of alleged police misconduct.
“We’ve had enough of the rearranging of chairs on the Titanic. Our city is in a crisis. This is no time to try to celebrate or memorialize Dr. King under these circumstances,” Bishop Tavis Grant told WLS-TV.
About a dozen protesters locked arms outside the Hyatt Regency at McCormick Place where the breakfast was being held. At least two protesters made it inside the breakfast, which an estimated 800 people attended. The protesters separately interrupted the event with shouts of “16 shots,” the number of times that McDonald was struck by gunfire from Officer Jason Van Dyke.
The protests come the day after the release of video that shows another black teenager being fatally shot by police. Images from a surveillance camera show a police officer draw his weapon and shoot 17-year-old Cedrick Chatman, a carjacking suspect, as he ran from police.
During his speech, Mr. Emanuel highlighted his commitment to address the concerns — which lead him to fire the city’s top cop. The Department of Justice launched a broad investigation into the Chicago Police Department to determine whether officers’ patterns and practices have violated the Constitution or federal law.
“We also have to root out the cancer of police abuse,” Mr. Emanuel said. “When there is no trust, there is no safety.”
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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