Chicago Protest on Trump's Birthday Echoes Demonstrations Across the Country
(Chicago, June 14) An estimated 200 protesters gathered at an open area in Lincoln Park, on Chicago's lakefront, to express their displeasure with the Trump administration as well as dismay over police brutality. Even though this was the president's birthday, the protesters - like their counterparts in dozens of other U.S. cities - were here to chastise, not congratulate.
Chicago's Park Districts were now open after many weeks of shutdown due to Covid-19, and Lincoln Park was packed with visitors. Attendance at the protest space was sparse at the 3 p.m. starting time; but in the next 15 minutes or so, the crowd grew substantially. Half a dozen speakers expressed their views. During a period of silence, in respect to George Floyd and other black men who'd been killed by police officers, a violinist from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played a somber melody. One man, who often chants at the Trump Tower hotel in downtown Chicago brought his talent and concern to the Lincoln Park demonstration.
"There's a certain militancy" to this group, our correpondent noted, unlike many protest events held in Chicago earlier in the Trump presidency. It was also peaceful.
Though billed as a demonstration, when the speeches concluded, the protesters began to march westward, soon turning north toward Wrigley Field. Along the way, they expected to merge with a different group that was marching for gay issues.
Almost everyone at the park was wearing a mask.
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