A downtown protest Feb. 25 regarding federal budget cuts to housing programs led to the arrest of 11 protestors.

The Illinois state police provided a demonstration permit at the Thompson Center to Chicago Housing Initiative, a coalition of community organizations that organize around national polices which impact affordable housing stock. But during the demonstration many participants defied the orders of police by going on the street. Demonstrators locked arms, blocking all lanes of traffic, and refused to move.

Police gave the participants several hours to disperse. But 11 participants indicated they wanted to be arrested in order to bring attention to their cause, so police placed them in custody. The offenders were then released and will appear in court.

On Feb. 20, Money and phones were taken in an armed robbery at the T-Mobile store at 14 E. Harrison St.

A male offender walked into the store and told an employee, “don’t move,” then pulled a dark colored handgun from his jacket pocket and instructed the employee to lock the door. After the employee turned the lights off under an order from the robber, the offender made her unlock the phone storage area, and the offender then put 15 mobile phones into his backpack.

The offender also took three brown envelopes from a metal cash box under the counter. He made the employee stay on the floor as he fled the store in an unknown direction.

Police did not say how much money was stolen. The offender was wearing gloves throughout the heist and there are no known suspects.

Police arrested a teen for carrying a loaded semi-automatic pistol on a CTA train.

On the morning of Feb. 24, police boarded an outbound CTA Red Line train leaving from the Roosevelt El station. They then detected the “pungent odor” of cannabis and approached two people from whom the smell was coming. Officers then conducted a pat down search and discovered that one offender had a pistol in his right front coat pocket. The pistol had one round loaded in the chamber.

The pat down also revealed a “green-crush plant like substance” suspected to be cannabis on both offenders.

Both suspects are 17.

Chicago police broke up a prostitution operation in a room at the LaQuinta Inn at 1 S. Franklin St. on Feb. 24.

Police contacted the 21-year-old suspect via an advertisement on Backpage.com. The offender directed a plainclothes officer to the hotel room and, once the officer was in the room, the offender offered to have sex three times for $250. The officer handed the offender $250, which she allegedly took, counted, and placed on a desk.

The officer then called for backup and placed the offender under arrest.

Police report that late in the evening of Feb. 22 someone took a large L.A. Tan banner from the front of the store’s building at 123 W. Madison St. The banner had an estimated value of $1,000.