I was so appalled by when I saw this video of police charging protesters on horseback in downtown Chicago that I woke-up in the night thinking about it and could not go back to sleep.  Being trampled by the weight of a horse can lead to serious injury or death.  This practice is reminiscent of of the kind of dangerous force used against protesters when dogs and hoses were deployed on Birmingham, AL during the Civil Rights Protests of the 1960s.

I was not present at this protest, but here is the video footage that I watched.  Notice that it is titled "Protesters Throw Bottles at Police Horses", yet you cannot see a single person throwing bottles in the video.  What you see is bottles and cups flying through the air from some off-camera location, behind or to the side of the camera person.  Where they thrown by protesters or onlookers trying to defend and protect peaceful protesters?  Either way, you clearly see horses charging protesters who are not engaging in any kind of physical violence.  I would title the video "CHICAGO POLICE CHARGE NONVIOLENT PROTESTERS ON HORSEBACK".  

http://abc7chicago.com/news/raw-video-protesters-throw-bottles-at-police-horses/1420806/

We must demand that Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls for an immediate end to the potentially lethal practice of policing protesters by horseback.