Hundreds of protesters marched Tuesday night through Downtown, chanting and making speeches over a loudspeaker about Ferguson, Mo., and Michael Brown, after spending much of the day hunkered down outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.
The march, much of which took place along and near Michigan Avenue, began after police ordered protesters around 6:30 p.m. to leave Emanuel's fifth-floor office in City Hall, where they had been participating in a planned 28-hour sit-in. As of 10 p.m. it was unclear whether the march had ended.
"We left because we believe, and we know that the arrest of black bodies is not to be taken lightly," said Charlene Carruthers of Black Youth Project 100, which organized the sit-in. "This is just one day, and we want to live to fight another day."
After the group's leaders left City Hall, others who had taken part in the sit-in began marching past Daley Center toward Michigan Avenue. Police on bicycles followed them for the next several hours as they marched along streets in the Loop. The march was largely peaceful, but there were tense moments. One occurred at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, where protesters tried to leave the sidewalk and march into the street.
Police lined up their bicycles to block them from the street, leading to brief shouting matches between officers and protesters before the racially diverse group resumed marching on the sidewalk and chanting lines including, "Hands up. Don't Shoot" and "They think it's a game. They think it's a joke."
Carruthers, of the group Black Youth Project 100, said the City Hall sit-in's planned duration, 28 hours, reflects the idea that a young black person in the U.S. is fatally shot once every 28 hours by a police officer, security officer or "self-appointed vigilante."
The group was also involved in Monday night's Ferguson-related protest outside Chicago's police headquarters. The group's mission is focused on economic empowerment and fair treatment by police for black people, plus decriminalization of marijuana.
Carruthers said earlier Tuesday that Emanuel needs to take a leadership role in talking to other politicians "to stop being complicit in the destruction of black bodies."
Emanuel, who was at a Northwest Side immigration event with President Barack Obama as the protest continued outside his office, released a statement Tuesday.
"The peaceful demonstrations in Chicago reflect our shared work as a community to build a partnership for peace, and the ongoing efforts between government, police, community leaders, faith leaders, and residents to ensure everyone in every neighborhood in Chicago enjoys the same sense of safety. Until we have achieved that important goal, our work together will not be complete."