Source: Scott Olson / Getty
Downtown
Chicago was the site of a weekend clash between police and citizens reportedly sparked after reports went out a suspect was shot after a pursuit in the city’s Englewood section. As a result, stores and businesses along the city’s Magnificent Mile section were damaged and looted with
Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking negatively of the incident but not of the conditions that may have led to the clash.
On Sunday (August 9), Chicago police shot and wounded a suspect who allegedly shot at officers who were in pursuit. As word began to spread of the shooting, crowds reportedly gathered in protest and began flooding the area after it was initially stated the suspect was under the age of 18, an account that CPD denies.
According to a
CBS Chicago report, a CPD officer was mace and another was injured while police vehicles were reportedly damaged. However, the views from activists say that police reacted with violence to peaceful gatherers, thus sparking the widespread outrage that led to the looting.
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Around 100 people were arrested in connection with the looting and 13 CPD officers were reported injured. Mayor Lightfoot condemned the acts of the rioters in a Monday (August 10) news conference.
“This was straight up, felony criminal conduct,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “This was an assault on our city.”
Many of the businesses that were hit over the weekend recently reopened after closing both due to COVID-19 concerns and also after protests raged through the area after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As noted by some public advocates in the city, the rioting no doubt was well-up anger at the mistreatment faced by Black Chicago youth handed out by authorities.
“Yesterday there was an act of state violence targeting a Black youth in the disinvested Englewood community. In response Black youth protested by targeting property emblematic of wealth inequality & disinvestment. Their response was more peaceful than the violence that begot it,”
tweeted city lawyer Brendan Shiller.
As is typical with moments such as this, conservative bots and right-leaning Twitter users are highlighting this as a moment to dunk on the Democrats and own the Libs in the process without once addressing racism and police brutality as the core impetus of unrest in most major American cities.
We’ve got reactions on Twitter to the so-called Chicago Riots below.
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Photo: Getty
