Chicago mayor: looting is not protected speech
"This had nothing to do with first amendment protected speech. This was straight up criminal conduct," she said.
Chicago police exchanged gunfire with looters and arrested more than 100 people after crowds swarmed Chicago's luxury commercial district early Monday, looting stores, smashing windows and clashing with officers for hours, police said.
Police Superintendent David Brown called the outbreak "pure criminality," and Lightfoot sought to distance the incident from the "righteous uprising" in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25.
People were drawn by a number of social media posts encouraging looting in central Chicago after tensions flared following the police shooting of a man with a gun, Brown said.
As police questioned a 20-year-old suspect, he fled, firing at the pursuing officers, Brown said. Police returned fire and shot the man, who was hospitalized and expected to survive.
