Police protests exploited by looters
Chicago locks down Loop, Aurora joins in overnight curfew; Pritzker clashes on call with Trump
Protesters march Sunday at Chicago’s Daley Plaza. (Twitter/ACLU of Illinois)
By Ted Cox
Protests prompted by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spread across the nation and even the world over the weekend, with many exploited by looters.
The state’s two largest cities, Chicago and Aurora, imposed overnight curfews, and Chicago kept its entire city center including the Loop locked down Monday, allowing only residents and those with essential business into the area. The area extended from Division Street on the North Side to 26th Street on the South Side, and west as far as Halsted Street. Interstates and Lake Shore Drive were also snarled by closed exits and shut-down stretches.
“I expect this wound will take a long time to close,” said Chicago Police Supt. David Brown on Sunday.
According to Brown, Chicago Police made 699 arrests Sunday, “primarily for looting,” and primarily on the South and West sides, after making 300 arrests Saturday for the most part downtown. Police reported 48 people shot Sunday and 17 killed, with 132 officers injured. Police confiscated 64 guns.
“People unfortunately believed they could act in a lawless manner,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a news conference Monday at Chicago’s Department of Emergency Management and Communication. “The fact is that the violence we saw and the looting we saw spread like wildfire.
“I know many Chicagoans are feeling like I am, which is weary and uncertain,” Lightfoot said. “What we saw last night was completely heart-wrenching … nothing short of devastating.”
According to Lightfoot, the city fielded 65,000 911 calls Sunday, 50,000 more than normal, 10,000 for looting alone. “The challenge was, it was everywhere,” she added.
Lightfoot also warned against “the other danger we cannot lose sight of” — the COVID-19 pandemic — adding, “God forbid that we see a spike that overwhelms our health resources just as we saw light at the end of the tunnel.”
“The virus does not care what else is going on in the city,” said Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. She urged protesters who were not able to observe social distancing in the huge gatherings over the weekend to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms. Lightfoot, however, did not alter plans for the city to ease restrictions in the stay-at-home order as scheduled on Wednesday.
Brown said he was moved by one protester who urged police to “say his name” — meaning George Floyd. And he said it again and again at Monday’s news conference.
“Mr. Floyd was murdered, and we saw it on live TV,” Brown said. “Mr. George Floyd, we grieve with you and your family. We are embarrassed by the cops in Minneapolis. … But to the rioters and looters, you disgraced the name of Mr. Floyd.”
“The people who have been arrested weren't peaceful protesters,” Lightfoot insisted.
“This playbook is happening all across this country,” Brown added.
Peaceful protests broke out in Minneapolis Sunday after days of violence, but rioting spread to other cities, including the nation’s capital, where the White House lights were darkened as protests raged just outside the grounds.
“What a fitting image from (President Trump) last night when the nation most needed leadership,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Bill Foster. Trump in many ways poured gasoline on the protests on Friday when he repeated a line used by segregationists in the ‘60s that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which drew a swift rebuke from both Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax reported that Pritzker and Trump clashed openly on a conference call Monday between the president and governors.
After Trump called on governors to take a hardline approach to quelling violence, Pritzker responded, according to a transcript released by his office: “I wanted to take this moment — and I can’t let it pass — to speak up and say that I’ve been extraordinarily concerned about the rhetoric that’s been used by you. It’s been inflammatory, and it’s not OK for that officer to choke George Floyd to death. But we have to call for calm. We have to have police reform called for. We’ve called out our National Guard and our State Police, but the rhetoric that’s coming out of the White House is making it worse. And I need to say that people are feeling real pain out there and we’ve got to have national leadership in calling for calm and making sure that we’re addressing the concerns of the legitimate peaceful protestors. That will help us to bring order.”
Trump reportedly replied: “OK, well thank you very much J.B. I don’t like your rhetoric much either because I watched it with respect to the coronavirus, and I don’t like your rhetoric much either. I think you could’ve done a much better job, frankly. But that’s OK. And you know, we don’t agree with each other.”
Lightfoot asked Pritzker to send in the Illinois National Guard early Sunday morning to quell rioting that grew out of peaceful protests, and the governor responded by deploying 375 troops. Pritzker said at a Sunday news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago that they’d patrol the city “perimeter.” Pritzker said Illinois State Police were also deployed.
At that news conference, Lightfoot, Pritzker, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx all spoke eloquently in defense of protesters decrying police violence and the national trauma brought on by Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police a week ago.
The mayor charged that some of the looting was premeditated to take advantage of the protests, pointing to how U-Haul vans had been used to park outside businesses that were then looted, with the goods taken away in the vans. “There’s no question that some of the destruction that happened (Saturday) night, particularly the arson, were absolutely organized and coordinated,” Lightfoot said.
Colleen Connell, executive director of the America Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, issued a statement Saturday saying: “The mayor’s summary announcement of a potentially indefinite curfew tonight for the entire city — with hundreds of people trapped in the Loop — raises serious constitutional questions that need to be remedied. Any curfew must be limited to the specific places in the city where there is imminent threat of danger or harm, not the entire city.
“The broad and vague nature of this order — and the suggestion that it is indefinite in time — invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. We encourage the mayor to rethink this strategy immediately. The ACLU of Illinois is exploring all options including litigation.”
“With all due respect to the ACLU, I know what we need to do to make this city safe,” Lightfoot responded Sunday, “and I’m going to make those calls, every single time.”
There were also reports of looting over the weekend in Rockford and Champaign, again in the wake of otherwise peaceful protests. Protesters formed a car caravan in Springfield.
Pritzker and Lightfoot both expressed concerns the gatherings could spread COVID-19 in the weeks ahead just as both the state and the city were moving to the next phase to ease stay-at-home restrictions in the pandemic. On Sunday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,343 newly confirmed cases, taking the state total to 21,154, while 60 new deaths brought the statewide toll to 5,390.
On Monday, Lightfoot pledged to help Chicago businesses and communities rebuild and recover from the weekend violence.
“I and we will be your partners in rebuilding. We will not allow our city to be in shambles,” she said. “We will rebuild, and the city of Chicago government will lead these rebuilding efforts.” Lightfoot urged Chicagoans to “hold on to that hope. That is what will propel us forward and help us heal.”