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 The day's protests started with dozens of medical students of
different races lying down in front of City Hall for 16 minutes at
the start of the work day, some holding signs reading "Do No Harm"
in a demonstration broadcast by local media.
The protesters chose 16 minutes to symbolize the 16 times white
police officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald in 2014.
Release of police video of the shooting and the filing of a murder
charge against Van Dyke on Nov. 24 came more than a year after
McDonald's death, and the delay, which activists blame on Emanuel
and the top local prosecutor, has prompted more than two weeks of
protests in the nation's third-largest city.
Another demonstration unfolded during evening rush hour in the
city's downtown.
 About 500 people marched from City Hall to Millennium Park, at times
stopping traffic and making sharp, unexpected turns that forced
police to scramble to catch up. The march was one of the largest in
Chicago since the release of the video.
Protesters held signs demanding the resignation of Emanuel and Cook
County State Attorney Anita Alvarez and for an overhaul of Chicago's
police board. At times, they chanted "16 and a coverup!"
Dane Tucker, a retired Chicago firefighter who believes Emanuel
should step down, brought his 10-year-old grandson to the protest.
"At some point we all have to get together and say, 'enough is
enough,'" Tucker said. "We have to be as one, that's the only way we
can fix this." High-profile killings of black men by law
enforcement in U.S. cities have stirred a national debate about the
use of force by police, particularly against racial minorities.
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Emanuel has recently taken steps to reform the police department,
including setting up a task force to review police accountability
and firing the police superintendent.
But outrage has mounted over the McDonald shooting and police
misconduct overall. Two black state representatives have introduced
a bill that would allow the mayor to be recalled.
"We can't continue to have a city that's in turmoil like this," said
Representative La Shawn Ford, who like Emanuel is a Democrat and
sponsored the bill. Ford told Reuters the bill, which would not be
considered until mid-January, would allow the community to prove
their rhetoric is serious.
Meanwhile, the city began a nationwide search for a new police
superintendent. The Chicago Police Board, a group of citizens
appointed by the mayor, is taking applications through Jan. 15, it
said.
(Writing by Mary Wisniewski and Alex Dobuzinskis,; Additional
reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio
and Ken Wills)
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