Pfleger rejects police plea to move July 7 peace march off Dan Ryan

The Chicago Police Department on Thursday pleaded with the Rev. Michael Pfleger to abandon plans to shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway on July 7 to avoid pulling 200 officers out of violence-plagued neighborhoods, but the activist priest said the march will go on as planned.

"That was the decision that was made for the acts of civil disobedience and direct action, because we are not getting the services we need in our communities and the violence is continuing. This was the decision that was made, and we're going with it. We're not backing down on it," a defiant Pfleger said.

Pfleger didn't budge when told the expressway march would require 200 officers to be yanked out of South and West Side neighborhoods plagued by gang violence.

"We close down streets all the time - for festivals, for mass rallies, for Taste of Chicago, for the president coming in town. We closed down the Dan Ryan last week when ... a girl stepped in front of an L. This is not the first time they've had to close down a major artery," he said.

"This is about the violence going on in this city. Not just the violence of guns, but the violence of poverty. The violence of lack of resources. The violence of lack of housing. The violence of poor schools."

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