CTA Blue Line trains bypassed the UIC-Halsted and Racine stations on the Near West Side for about two hours Saturday ahead of a protest planned near the Chicago police training academy.
The CTA announced those stations would be shut down just before 4 p.m. “at the request of public safety officials.” The transit authority announced trains would begin stopping there again about 6:05 p.m.
[Station(s) Bypassed] Blue Line trains are running, but not stopping at UIC-Halsted and Racine stations at the request of public safety officials. Use 126 Jackson bus as alternative.
— cta (@cta) August 22, 2020
[Normal Service*] Blue Line trains have resumed making stops at Racine and UIC-Halsted stations.
— cta (@cta) August 22, 2020
The protest, titled “Break the Piggy Bank,” was slated to start at 6 p.m. at Whitney Young Magnet High School, 211 S. Laflin St., which lies just steps away from the Chicago Police Department’s training academy.
Hosted by a slew of social and racial justice organizations across the city, Saturday’s rally in support of defunding CPD follows a back-to-school drive at 53rd Street and King Drive organized by Black Lives Matter Chicago and Justice for RonnieMan — an initiative started by the mother of Ronald Johnson, who was gunned down by police in October 2014 during a chase in Washington Park.
.@dorothy1burton is a freedom fighter who taught us how to fight! & we gone fight all day & night until we get it right!
— GoodKidsMadCity (@GKMC18) August 22, 2020
Join @BLMChi & Dorothy as they uplift the children in the name of justice for #RonnieMan @ 1:30pm. Then @ 6pm we Break the Piggy Bank #DefundCPD!#PeaceBook pic.twitter.com/tE85rT4Ymf
Neither Chicago police nor the CTA could confirm whether the Blue Line station shutdowns were directly related to the protest.
