Hundreds In Chicago Protest President Trump After Decision To Kill Top Iranian General
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of people gathered to protest downtown after President Trump ordered the killing of a top Iranian general, raising fears of an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters, carrying "No War In Iran and U.S. Troops Out Of Iraq" signs, gathered near the Trump Hotel on Wacker Drive and marched down Michigan Avenue.
BREAKING: at least one arrest at Chicago #NoWarInIran protest as demonstrators march toward Lake Shore Drive pic.twitter.com/zPw3Fjcbxg
— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) January 4, 2020
The group also shut down Lake Shore Drive, forcing the CTA to reroute buses. There was at least one person arrested, police said.
Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic, was killed early Friday in an airstrike in Baghdad. Thousands of people were marching Saturday in a funeral procession through the Iraqi capital.
President Trump said Friday the action was taken "to stop a war." He said Soleimani "was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him."