Chicago protest over street gangs' rowdy funerals

As the funeral procession headed through Chicago's far Southwest Side, mourners weaved in and out of traffic, leaned out of car windows as they sang to music blaring from their car stereos and flashed gang signs, a video on YouTube showed.

These rowdy processions for slain street gang members have upset many residents in the mostly white neighbourhoods of Mount Greenwood and Beverly who say they create a public safety problem. There have even been reports of shots fired, police say.

Neighbours want a number of cemeteries in the area as well as funeral homes to take more responsibility for the mayhem, but the businesses say there is only so much they can do to try to control the misbehaviour.

Paul Stewart, spokesman for the Mount Hope Cemetery, acknowledged it is a popular spot for gang funerals largely because of its "reasonable" rates - as low as US$1,200 for a burial. While aware of residents' concerns, Stewart said, the cemetery's mission has to be to provide services to a grieving family even if the deceased is a gang member.

"If a mother has a child in a gang, the services we're providing are for the mother of the child," Stewart said. "The mother is working with the funeral director and they just want to bury their child."

About 200 residents took to the streets on a recent Saturday to show their anger over the issue, marching from Kennedy Park about five blocks to Mount Hope in unincorporated Cook county. Many hoisted signs calling to "respect the living and the dead".

Barbara Mowatt and other residents were adamant that race was not an issue in the protests. The protest drew a number of blacks as well.