Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Sunday praised Chicago police for dealing with Saturday’s demonstrations ‘fairly quickly’ after they plunged into violent skirmishes.
The mayor made the remarks during a performance on Sunday on CBS ” Face the Nation ‘, following Saturday’s demonstrations against police brutality.
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
(Getty Images)
The demonstrations began Saturday with a march around noon. Later, a separate demonstration near downtown resulted in two dozen arrests, 17 wounded officers, and at least two wounded Protestants.
Lightfoot said agitators “have embedded themselves in these seemingly peaceful protests and are coming for a fight” even though the clashes were “going on very quickly because our police department has decided to make sure we protect peaceful protests.”
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The Chicago Police Department Superintendent said some in the group used black umbrellas to make it harder for police to see them, officers shrugged and attacked them.
In one video released by Chicago police, a person wearing a skateboard hits an officer.
Activist groups and some elected officials meanwhile accused police officers of aggressive tactics, including spraying the crowd with a chemical irritant and beating Protestants with batons.
“The march was peaceful until CPD and other legislators began an all-out attack on Protestants,” a statement from youth activist group Increase The Peace said Sunday.
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The rally came about a week after a police officer shot a black man in the South Side of the city asking large crowds of people to walk into the downtown Chicago shopping center, where they smashed windows of businesses and marked took out stores.
A social media post had falsely claimed that police had shot a 15-year-old fatal when the man was in fact 20 years old and did not sustain any life-threatening injuries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
