Over 100 Gather Outside of Metropolitan Correctional Center for Running Down the Walls in Chicago, IL

Report back from “Running Down the Walls” event in so-called Chicago, IL.

On Sunday, over the course of the evening more than 100 people gathered in front of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), Federal Bureau of Prisons, in solidarity with those held inside and political prisoners everywhere.

People from the age of 6 months to lord knows how old, rolled, walked, and ran laps around the MCC in an effort to raise awareness and struggle alongside those in cages in the heart of downtown Chicago. Banners read “ACAB,” “Running Down the Walls,” “Stop Cop Cites,” and much more.

Dozens of windows of the prison were filled with hands waving, lights flicking on and off, and flash lights blinking back down on the crowd of people gathering in solidarity below. A green lazer flashed up at the windows letting each person in the window know that we saw them.

Punk bands, including Glutton for Insurrection, played and we moshed in the intersection of the street. When the Djs went on we danced. Taking up the intersection of Van Buren for a time but also yielding to the caravans of cars celebrating Mexican Independence day. Honks were shared between riotous attendees of these disparate energies.

Coalescing into a rowdy vibe, attendees to Running Down the Walls launched fireworks and threw cans of garbanzo beans at a life sized paper mache police officer. Police hovered around and looked down on us from nearby buildings, but their numbers were thinned due to their over policing of a Mexican Independence Day celebration nearby.