WICKER PARK — About 50 protesters chanting "Don't shoot, hands up" — who were speaking out against police violence in Ferguson, Missouri — shut down Wicker Park's Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues intersection on Tuesday night.
Two people, a 20-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man, were arrested and charged with misdemeanor obstruction of traffic by a non-motorist, said Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
"The cops were not brutal with anyone. They handcuffed [the man] and escorted him away. He was doing nothing more than the other protesters," said Derek Elliott Bagley, a Wicker Park resident who watched the man, a local street artist who calls himself Sir Gerald Akbar, being taken away.
Alisa Hauser was nearby during the protest, and spoke with several witnesses:
The protesters stood in the center of Milwaukee, Damen, and North Avenues and blocked traffic before marching south down Milwaukee Avenue toward the Polish Triangle during a protest that lasted around 30 minutes, witnesses said.
Akbar could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Estrada said that Shakespeare District Officers responded to "a peaceful protest of about 50 demonstrators who were disrupting traffic in the 1600 block of North Milwaukee Avenue" shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Officers ordered the protesters off the street and onto the sidewalks, Estrada said.
All of the protesters complied, except for two people who did not leave the street, Estrada said.
Kayla Long, 20, of the 4600 block of South Michigan Avenue was arrested and charged with Obstruction of Traffic by non-motorists around 9:19 p.m. Tuesday.
About 10 minutes later, Akbar, 34, of the 6600 block of South Drexel Avenue, was arrested and charged with obstruction of traffic by a non-motorist because he "ignored police and continued to enter the street," Estrada said.
One witness, Brandon Wall, tweeted: "There were plenty of onlookers ranging from curious to enthusiastic and a lot of cars honking..."
Bagley, who lives above the Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave., said he was coming home from work around 9 p.m. Tuesday and got "swept up in the commotion."
Bagley said he talked to one of the protesters who told him the gathering was "to protest police brutality and gun violence and all the people that are getting killed."
Bagley said he was struck by the behavior of some onlookers who were "mocking and taunting and laughing at demonstrators."
"It disgusted me, as a member of this community, to hear my neighbors and patrons of businesses saying such stuff, as they were coming out of nice bars and restaurants that [they] are privileged to be at. Instead of standing in solidarity, they decided to mock them. It shows we have so far to go in this century," Bagley said.
Steve Niketopoulos, a Ukrainian Village resident, was cycling home from a 2nd Ward candidate community forum in River North when he captured part of the protest.
"I started hearing shouting and chants and realized the street was blocked off. I got off my bike and took some video just as an arrest was made. Police started to turn on sirens to drown out the protest," Niketopoulos said.
Marching down Milwaukee in solidarity with ferguson
A video posted by Ethos Fleo (@ethosiii) on
