Mayor Kook and the tale of the Indigenous people

Lightfoot says ‘people who came for a fight’ hijacked protest at Columbus statue in Grant Park, yes, the protestors were victims and need to be made whole

Mayor Kook supports the plight of indigenous people who were not even there but not the plight of the police who were there and battered. Memo to the mayor, why don't you just concern yourself with trying to jumpstart Chicago's economy and leave law enforcement to the Feds. 

While insisting she supports peaceful protests, she said on Friday, “what we saw … is a group of vigilantes” who formed a “phalanx,” then began “pummeling police with projectiles Frozen water bottles, cans, other projectiles.”

By Fran Spielman and Mitch Dudek Updated Jul 20, 2020, 9:22pm CDT


Hundreds of protesters surrounded the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park on Friday. They attempted to pull the statue down and many battled with Chicago Police. Alexander Gouletas/For the Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday accused a small group of “vigilantes — people who came for a fight” of “hijacking” an otherwise peaceful protest at the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park.

Lightfoot said people have a right to “peacefully protest” in this country and this city. It’s a “sacred right” enshrined in the First Amendment, she said.

She noted the focus of the Friday night march was supposed to be to “uplift the stories of indigenous people” in Chicago, an effort she fully supports.

Protesters marched on the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park on Friday, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said protesters who came equipped with goggles and umbrellas to protect themselves were there for a fight, not for a peaceful demonstration. Alexander Gouletas/For the Sun-Times

“Unfortunately, what we saw … is a group of vigilantes — people who came for a fight, not a peaceful protest. You’re gonna see 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 police with projectiles,” Lightfoot said.

“Frozen water bottles, cans, other projectiles. There were a number of police officers that were injured as a result of that. That’s not peaceful protest. That’s anarchy. And we are going to put that down. We are actively investigating. And we will bring those people to justice.”