Blue Line service resumes at UIC-Halsted, Racine stops after shutdown ahead of protest near CPD training academy

CTA Blue Line trains bypassed the UIC-Halsted and Racine stations on the Near West Side for about two hours Saturday ahead of a protest planned near the Chicago police training academy.

The CTA announced those stations would be shut down just before 4 p.m. “at the request of public safety officials.” The transit authority announced trains would begin stopping there again about 6:05 p.m.

The protest, titled “Break the Piggy Bank,” was slated to start at 6 p.m. at Whitney Young Magnet High School, 211 S. Laflin St., which lies just steps away from the Chicago Police Department’s training academy.

Hosted by a slew of social and racial justice organizations across the city, Saturday’s rally in support of defunding CPD follows a back-to-school drive at 53rd Street and King Drive organized by Black Lives Matter Chicago and Justice for RonnieMan — an initiative started by the mother of Ronald Johnson, who was gunned down by police in October 2014 during a chase in Washington Park.

Neither Chicago police nor the CTA could confirm whether the Blue Line station shutdowns were directly related to the protest.