It’s “one rule for me and another for thee” in Chicago.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot (shown) defended her ban on protesters on her block, arguing she has a right to safety amid threats she has allegedly received.
“I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” Lightfoot said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The mayor defended her action when asked at a news conference about a report from the Tribune that noted how police have banned protesters from demonstrating on her block in the Logan Square neighborhood, ordering officers to arrest anyone who refuses to leave.
The Tribune notes:
The directive surfaced in a July email from then-Shakespeare District Cmdr. Melvin Roman to officers under his command. It did not distinguish between the peaceful protesters Lightfoot regularly says she supports and those who might intend to be destructive, but ordered that after a warning is given to demonstrators, “It should be locked down.”
Activists and police sources could not cite instances when the city repeatedly locked down her predecessor Emanuel’s block against protesters. The Kenwood block where former President Barack Obama lived with his family when his primary residence was in Chicago was shut down for access only by residents after his election.
Lightfoot, however, maintained that those comparisons “don’t make sense” in light of the coronavirus outbreak and the George Floyd protests.
“I’m not going to make any excuses for the fact that, given the threats I have personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re protected,” Lightfoot said. “I make no apologies whatsoever for that.”
Since a few days prior to the order’s writing, Chicago police have repeatedly blocked protesters’ access to the block with barricades and groups of officers. Police keep protesters confined to the nearby corner of Kimball and Wrightwood avenues. In one case last month, police brought in an armored vehicle in case things escalated during a standoff between activists and law enforcement.
In addition to the protection around her home, Lightfoot has a 24/7 police security detail, which has often diverted resources from the area’s police district.
Lightfoot and police Superintendent David Brown pointed to laws on the books banning residential protests, though Brown acknowledged that the police department does not always enforce them. He said the city tries to give protesters “wiggle room.”
Brown also asserted that peaceful protests have often been “hijacked” by violent agitators.
“We have seen very peaceful First Amendment protests for the most part but embedded in each of those protests have been very violent people. And they’re embedded. They put up umbrellas. And they come for a fight,” Brown said. “So we have to prepare for what we’ve seen.”
Chicago has been one of several urban centers wracked with violence and vandalism since the death of George Floyd. Rioters have regularly attacked police, hurling fireworks, rocks, frozen water bottles, and other objects at them from behind the cover of “peaceful protesters.”
In an incident at a Christopher Columbus statue last month, a flammable device that exploded near an officer broke his eye socket. CPD said the officer still has difficulty seeing and may need surgery.
Brown said of that incident: “This cannot stand. We cannot be a city that thinks mob action of a crowd is acceptable behavior. When mob action occurs, CPD is forced to divert our manpower away from deterring violent crime in our neighborhoods in order to quell the unrest.”
Though Lightfoot initially told President Trump to keep federal officers out of Chicago, she later acquiesced amid rising violence. The federal government deployed federal agents from various agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the DEA, and the ATF, to the Windy City under Operation Legend, a program of questionable constitutionality that seeks to restore law and order to the nation’s biggest hotspots.
Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of Lightfoot’s situation appears to be lost on her. She defends her use of taxpayer-paid police resources to limit protests in her own neighborhood and keep a private security force, indignantly proclaiming that she has a right to safety — all while ignoring everyday Chicagoans’ same right to safety.
Photo of Mayor Lori Lightfoot: AP Images
Luis Miguel is a marketer and writer whose journalistic endeavors shed light on the Deep State, the immigration crisis, and the enemies of freedom. Follow his exploits on Facebook, Twitter, Bitchute, and at luisantoniomiguel.com.
