CHICAGO — Joined by fellow educators, labor groups and neighborhood activists, the Chicago Teachers Union went out on a one-day strike Friday to protest inadequate state education funding and the ineffectual crisis management of Chicago Public Schools.
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Calling it a "day of action," the union and its allies scheduled a full day of protests beginning with picket lines at schools across the city in the morning, followed by rallies at City Hall and at the Thompson Center at 4 p.m., culminating in a Downtown march to "shut it down" — "it" apparently meaning the entire Loop area.
Starting around 5 p.m., they began to reach that goal. Streets were closed across the Loop as thousands marched, many attempting to take over Lake Shore Drive. Those marchers were met by officers on bike and horseback while chanting, "Whose streets? Our streets!"
Follow our live coverage of the strike here:
