Activists To Help Protect Trick-Or-Treaters From Egg-Throwers
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some Chicago neighborhood activists will be out on Halloween night, trying to protect trick-or-treaters from egg-throwers.
WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports it happens every Halloween, more in some neighborhoods than others – kids and teens running around throwing eggs.
Community activist Andrew Holmes said, in some Chicago neighborhoods, trick-or-treating takes place on commercial strips, rather than house-to-house.
"We know it's a tradition just to walk the streets, let the kids enjoy it, go to the store and get a treat. But we don't want them to get a treat, coming out, and being bombarded with eggs," he said.
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In recent years, Holmes said the egg-throwing tradition has turned into an Internet fad.
"I don't know why eggs have a tradition," Holmes said. "Someone just want to throw eggs, just to see that yellow yuck, and then they're videotaping it. They're putting it on YouTube. And what we're doing, we're monitoring YouTube, and we're monitoring Facebook."
Holmes said activists will be out this Halloween to escort trick-or-treaters, and protect them from egg-throwers.
"We're going to try to help apprehend these individuals that think it's a joke; you put it on YouTube or Facebook, and try to make fun of some kid that you done hurt," he said.
Some of the egg-throwers' other favorite targets are police cars and CTA bus drivers.
"The favorite target to them is a Chicago Police car, and the Chicago Transit [Authority] bus drivers. You know, the bus pull up, the doors open, the eggs start flying in at the bus driver," he said. "People make like they want to get on the bus, but as soon as the door open, the eggs fly in."
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy had a simple message for the egg-throwers: "Don't throw eggs at the police. That's my thought. Especially since I'm the police."
One group of police officers told WBBM Newsradio that, one Halloween, they brought their own eggs on patrol, and returned fire.
