Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed a group of protesters she said wielded black umbrellas and shields as they pelted Chicago police officers for inciting “anarchy” at the statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park on Friday.
Lightfoot said the clash between protesters and officers happened because “a group of vigilantes” came to Chicago “for a fight, not a peaceful protest.”
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
She said Chicago police Superintendent David Brown would be showing video “that shows these people before they got to the Columbus statue, kneeling down, dressing in all black, with goggles, forming a phalanx with umbrellas and with shields around them, and then pummeling the police with projectiles.
“Frozen water bottles, cans, other projectiles. There were a number of police officers that were injured as a result of that,” Lightfoot said. “That’s not peaceful protest. That’s anarchy. We are going to put that down. We’re actively investigating and we will bring those people to justice.”
Lightfoot also said she isn’t happy with officers who may have mistreated protesters or reporters.
Chicago’s statues of Columbus have become a heated controversy for Lightfoot, who has rejected calls to bring down monuments honoring Columbus.
She has also rejected calls to rename the Columbus Day holiday.
