Police violence protesters ‘crash’ brunch at North Side restaurants

Several protesters took to popular North Side brunch restaurants on New Year’s Day to chant and raise awareness of police violence in Chicago.

The protesters, including members of Black Lives Matter Chicago, the Black Youth Project, and Assata’s Daughters, went into restaurants Kanela Breakfast Club and Dove’s Luncheonette in Wicker Park and chanted “While you are here celebrating over brunch, black families are struggling to keep themselves safe from CPD.”

The protest, which began trending as #BlackBrunchChi on Twitter, was meant to “intervene on the ‘celebration’ of consumerism, corrupt property zoning/displacement practices, and the retail and service industries’ route collusion with police and state violence,” according to a statement from Black Lives Matter.

“The ‘safety,’ economy, property value and social resources across Lake View are made possible by a disastrous tradition of depleting, displacing, economically deserting and aggressively surveilling black communities across the South and West sides of this city,” according to the statement.