Protests against closings result in 23 arrests on Monday, May 20, 2013
The final day of protests against the proposed massive school closings in Chicago ended with 23 activists being arrested at Chicago's City Hall. The arrests came as the public became aware of the fact that Chicago Public Schools intended to follow the agenda set by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and close all of the 53 schools targeted during what critics have called the "Hit List."
One account of the closings came in a press release from the Chicago Teachers Union:
Demonstrators Arrested During Anti-School Closings Sit-In At City Hall
CHICAGO –Twenty-three people who are against Rahm Emanuel’s school closing policies were arrested at City Hall today during a sit-in where they blocked elevators and sang protest songs made famous during the Civil Rights Movement. After delivering a number of petitions calling for a moratorium on school actions to the mayor’s office on the fifth floor the group headed to the first floor lobby and disrupted city business.
Among those arrested were Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) officer Kristine Mayle and a number of teachers, parents and community activists. The sit-in happened on the last day of a three-day march for education justice that moved hundreds of people through the South and West sides of the city.
CTU President Karen Lewis will address marchers during a rally at 4 p.m. At the conclusion people are expected to “circle City Hall” and call on the mayor to stop his abusive policies that will harm more than the 50,000 children as young as four-years of age who will be impacted by his closing plan.
