Black Friday protest planned along Michigan Avenue

For the second consecutive year, protesters are planning a Black Friday boycott along the Magnificent Mile.

The protest is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Friday at the Water Tower monument at Chicago and Michigan avenues, according to organizers.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 400 people had said they would attend the protest, which will denounce the city’s implementation of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, COPA, instead of a version preferred by protesters. That alternative watchdog, dubbed the Civilian Police Accountability Council, would be made up of members elected by the public.

“In passing COPA, the City Council and the Mayor have completely ignored the democratic demands of the people of Chicago for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council,” the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression wrote on its Facebook page.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition organized the protest last year in the wake of the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video. Hundreds of protesters marched along North Michigan Avenue, with some preventing shoppers from entering stores. Four people were arrested.