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66 protesters arrested at IACP 2015

In all, 47 women and 19 men were arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstructing traffic

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Protesters demanding a decrease in police funding and more money for black communities chained themselves together and were arrested outside a police chiefs conference at McCormick Place Saturday, according to police and protesters.

In all, 47 women and 19 men were arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstructing traffic in front of McCormick Place as the International Association of Chiefs of Police held its annual convention there, according to Chicago police News Affairs.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy welcomed the chiefs to the city, while outside 66 people chained themselves together and sat down in the street. Police closed traffic outside the convention center’s main entrance on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for several hours during the protests, after a group of several hundred people marched from Chicago police headquarters midday Saturday.

The protesters, several hundred strong, represented at least five allied groups black activist groups, including Black Youth Project 100, Not 1 More and We Charge Genocide. BYP 100 has been active in protesting about the 2012 killing of Rekia Boyd by Detective Dante Servin, including at Chicago Police Board meetings.

The protesters blocked traffic and took other “Actions … to demonstrate the urgency of our demand for a fundamental shift in the way this country invests in our most valuable resources – our people,” SAID Charlene Carruthers, BYP100 national director, in a news release. “We demand that our lives, our communities and our futures be made a priority. The police chiefs who belong to the IACP and their local departments have a debt to pay for the lives and the resources they’ve stolen and we’re here to collect.”

Copyright 2015 the Chicago Tribune

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