CHICAGO _ Dozens of protesters gathered Monday afternoon at Chicago's Union Park to rebuke Chicago's police union and call for criminal justice reform.
"We are here to call out the hypocrisy of FOP and declare that they are a racist organization and they must be shut down," said the Rev. Kwame Pitts of Augustana Lutheran Church.
The Monday protest came about a month after hundreds of opposing protesters gathered outside Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's downtown office, following prosecutors' controversial decision to drop all charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself.
At the April protest, members of a "hate group" designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center reportedly attended.
Representatives for the FOP didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Monday's protest. But in April, a police union spokesman angrily pushed back after being contacted by reporters about the presence of the hate group members.
"The suggestion, implication, or even correlation that the FOP would in any way associate itself with a racist hate group is a sign of just how biased, malevolent, and extreme the media is in their antipathy toward the police," a police union spokesman said in a Facebook post.
On Monday, protesters held signs with messages like "No one is safe under #RacistFOP's policies" and "When will you denounce white nationalists." Organizers and activists from groups including The People's Lobby, SOUL and Reclaim Chicago called for increased accountability from the police union.
Some speakers said they favored an elected civilian agency with the power to hire and fire the police superintendent, and investigate police shootings and misconduct. A long-shot proposal to establish such a board died in the City Council last year.
A chant of "16 shots and a cover-up" _ a reference to the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald _ spread through the crowd as protesters crossed Ogden and walked toward the union headquarters at 1412 W. Washington Blvd., where officers were stationed with bikes. Protesters moved into the street, filling the gap between the lodge and the Chicago Patrolmen's Federal Credit Union.
A small group wearing red shirts formed a chain crossing the street, singing, "The FOP is racist, we shall not be moved."
Shortly after 5 p.m., most protesters walked back toward the park. The small group stationed themselves at the Ogden and Washington intersection, holding hands and blocking traffic. They sat down and continued to sing as protesters in the park responded with: "We got your back."
The protesters blocking traffic were arrested and carried into a police wagon.
