April 14--A demonstration in which activists barricaded themselves inside a South Side mental health clinic to protest the city's plan to close the facility ended early Friday when police arrested 23 protesters.
The activists had locked themselves inside the Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic at 6337 S. Woodlawn Ave. Twelve of the protesters were charged with criminal trespassing while 10 were released without charges, police said. As of late Friday afternoon, only one of the protesters was still in custody, because of an outstanding warrant, police said.
One protester was charged with obstructing a police officer, a misdemeanor, after police said he lay down in front of a police vehicle in an alley near the clinic.
Members of the Mental Health Movement, the coalition of community organizations that organized the rally, held a press conference Friday morning to defend their actions.
"What we did was a clear statement," said Ronold Jackson, who was among those arrested. "Rahm Emanuel, are you listening? If you are, not everyone else is."
The outpatient clinic is one of six the city is closing as part of a plan to consolidate the work of 12 city-run facilities into six and build more active partnerships with private mental health organizations, city officials said. The Woodlawn clinic is scheduled to close April 30.
Woodlawn patients will be transferred either to another city-run center or a private mental health clinic within a four-mile radius of their current facility, according to the mayor's office.
"The fact remains, all who depend on the city for services will continue to have access to quality care and with these reforms, the city is expanding access to mental health services and increasing support for the uninsured," the commissioner of the city's Department of Public Health, Bechara Choucair, said in a statement.
Activists with the Mental Health Movement said they will continue to press city officials to hold a public hearing to examine the impact of closing the clinics, a spokesman said.
"What we have heard anecdotally is that people are falling through the cracks," said Toussaint Losier, a Mental Health Movement spokesman. The group will also host a community health clinic outside the center tomorrow, Losier said.
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