Hundreds of opposing protesters have converged in front of a Chicago state attorney's office, continuing the fierce and divisive reaction to prosecutors' decision to drop all charges against actor Jussie Smollett.
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Members of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police rallied outside the Cook County Administration Building, pushing for Kim Foxx's dismissal.
Their demonstration was met by smaller groups, including members of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, who staged a counter-protest and carried signs that read "FOP is racist."
What began as two rallies centred on Foxx became a clash at times of diverging ideologies, with scenes becoming chaotic as the groups merged.
The duelling demonstrations intensified but remained nonviolent as people from opposing sides clashed verbally, shouting and cursing at one another.
A few counter-protesters shouted "16 shots and a cover-up," referring to the number of times 17-year-old Chicagoan Laquan McDonald was shot by Officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014, while a chorus of FOP protesters drowned them out with chants of "Foxx must go!"
McDonald's death has long been a point of activism and outrage in the African American community. Van Dyke was sentenced last fall to six years in prison.
The rallies were yet another development in the saga of the Smollett case.
The Empire actor, who is African American and openly gay, said he was walking from a sandwich shop to his apartment about 2am on January 29 when two men wearing masks attacked him, shouted racial and homophobic slurs and placed a noose around his neck.
Chicago police initially launched a hate crime investigation but eventually said their investigation showed Smollett, 36, staged the attack.
Last week, prosecutors dropped all charges against Smollett in exchange for community service and his forfeiture of the $US10,000 he had posted as bond.
The decision, which Foxx said she was not involved in, drew swift and scathing criticism from police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who called it a "whitewash of justice."
Australian Associated Press