The video, released Tuesday evening by city officials, appeared to show Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald from close range, despite the fact that McDonald did not seem to pose a threat and was surrounded by police. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder yesterday, but that didn’t stop about 150 protesters from taking to the streets, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Their grievances extend beyond the shooting itself, to a city administration, led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, that sought to keep the video under wraps, then used the occasion of its release to call for the beginning of a healing process. “It was disgusting to try to claim any sense of moral superiority at this moment,” Page May told the Tribune. “They’re out there trying to do damage control. How are they going to hold accountable a system that allowed this to happen in the first place?”
Three protesters were reportedly arrested after clashes with the police.