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Police Brutality Protesters Plan To Shut Down Taste Of Chicago Saturday

 Protesters plan to
Protesters plan to "shut down" the Taste of Chicago festival Saturday afternoon.
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Facebook/Taste of Chicago Shutdown

DOWNTOWN — Activists protesting police brutality have found their next venue: the Taste of Chicago. 

Nearly 400 people on Facebook say they'll "shut down" the annual food festival Saturday afternoon in Grant Park. More than 1,000 say they're "interested" in attending.

The protests are in response to the recorded fatal police shootings this week of black men Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in suburban Minneapolis. The deaths led to protests across the country Thursday, including two in Chicago and another in Dallas that ended in tragedy

Other protesters plan a "die-in" near the Kenwood home of President Barack Obama at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and another protest is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Millennium Park

"No justice, no revenue!" the Facebook event reads. "Let's show the country that we are going to set the tone."

Organizer Ja'Mal Green, a local activist who led protests following last year's release of a videotape showing the death of Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald, said Saturday's protest will precede a 30-day campaign starting Monday to keep black spending with black-owned businesses. 

"We’re going to spend with our own, we're not going to spend with corporations, not going to spend with all the millionaires and billionaires," Green said. "There should be no peace until we have equality and justice, and we’re treated as human beings and not animals in every part of Chicago."

Green declined to specify how the group plans to stage the protest. 

The Taste protest will begin at 4 p.m., just before Billy Idol is set to hit the stage. The multi-day festival draws more than 1 million people annually. 

Spokespeople for the Chicago Police Department and the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which runs the Taste, did not return messages seeking comment. 

Activist groups briefly blocked traffic on Michigan Avenue and the intersection of 51st Street and Wentworth Avenue in Fuller Park on Thursday in response to the high-profile fatale police shootings. 

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