Protesters pour into US streets on Black Friday

Protesters have taken to streets in cities across the United States on Black Friday to voice their anger at political repression, economic inequalities and police mistreatment of minorities.

In Chicago, Illinois, hundreds of activists disrupted Black Friday shopping in the city's Magnificent Mile shopping district for the second year in a row.

A number of community organizations, churches, unions and survivors of police brutality and their families took part in the demonstration.

They demanded a boycott of Black Friday, one of the most crucial shopping days in the country.

“We are fully aware that calling for a Boycott of the Magnificent Mile on the day after Thanksgiving is a bold move,” said the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the group that organized the event.

“It is bold because, in calling for and executing this Boycott Black Friday movement, we are confronting the corporate bosses of Chicago, and this nation, who have their hands on all the levers of power. This has been made even more profoundly true with the election of Donald Trump,” the group added in its release.

The alliance also called for more accountability for Chicago police including the establishment of an elected civilian police review board.

Activists have been demanding such a council since a video was released last year showing a white police officer fatally shooting black teen Laquan McDonald.

City officials say they plan to set up a non-elected citizen oversight board next year.

The protesters called for Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down over his refusal to fully “implement the people's demand.”

"Hey, hey, ho, ho, Rahm Emanuel has got to go" and "No justice, no peace," they chanted.

The demonstrators condemned two recent fatal shootings by Chicago police which happened Wednesday night and Friday morning.

The US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is investigating Chicago police practices and the probe is expected to conclude in the first months of next year.

In New York, protesters amassed outside major retailers on Seventh Avenue to bring attention to the mistreatment of retail workers.

They also expressed solidarity with those who have been protesting the construction of a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota.

In downtown Seattle, protesters affiliated with the anti-police brutality movement Black Lives Matters were planning a gathering during the annual tree lighting ceremony for the third consecutive year.

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