From November 3rd through November 7th, I sought to document Chicago’s response to the 2020 Presidential Election by Live Streaming from Downtown Chicago to my YouTube Channel.
On Election Night, November 3rd, I monitored the scanner and drove around Downtown Chicago looking for activity. I observed a large police presence but no protests or demonstrations on that evening.
On November 4th, the day after the election, there was a planned demonstration at Daley Plaza in Downtown Chicago. I live streamed the demonstration to my YouTube Channel.
After the planned demonstration ended, a smaller group stayed and continued to demonstrate and march around downtown. A large police presence followed the group. A handful of verbal interactions between demonstrators and police officers were observed. No physical altercations were observed nor were any arrests observed.
After live streaming for a while, my camera battery was completely drained. I changed batteries, caught up with the group, and continued live streaming.
While I followed the demonstrators as they marched around Downtown Chicago, I noticed some police officers dressed differently than Chicago Police officers. They were standing by black, unmarked SUVs. I zoomed in on the license plate of one of the SUVs and noticed that it was not issued by The State of Illinois but by the Federal Government. This led me to believe that they were not City of Chicago or Illinois State Police but rather Federal Agents. The short video above is an extract from my live stream documenting these observations.
On the morning of November 7th, 2020 scanner traffic indicated that there was a large group gathering near the Trump Tower in Downtown Chicago celebrating Joe Biden’s declared victory which had just been announced.
I reached Downtown Chicago in the Afternoon of November 7th and started a live stream to my YouTube Channel.
On Wacker Drive, the street was shutdown to cars and the bridge crossing the river was raised, blocking access to Trump Tower. There were many people gathering in the streets to celebrate. There were also many rolling celebrations as cars drove by honking horns with people hanging out of windows and sunroofs.
With the large crowd amassed in that location, cellular data bandwidth was not optimal for live streaming. I walked around trying to find another location from which to live stream. I encountered a group of protesters marching and decided to follow them around Downtown Chicago.
After following the group through the streets we ended up back on Wacker Drive, across from Trump Tower.
I continued live streaming until my battery died. I then changed the batter and started a new stream.
I didn’t stay much longer as I had dinner plans that evening. From what I understand, the street celebrations continued into the night.
Bret Miller Photography 