A viral video appears to show George Floyd protesters in a brawl with police officers in the streets of Chicago, Illinois.
A Twitter user named Mack posted the video on May 30. “#chicagoprotest,” the caption read. The video was viewed more than 270,000 times in one hour. She wrote, “I’m sharing this to show that White people can literally beat on the cops and there were no shots fired, no one got beat, NOTHING. They let them beat they ass. These people deescalated an arrest and the guy got away.” You can watch it here:
Heavy has reached out to the Chicago police spokesman and asked whether he can verify the video, whether the officers are members of the Chicago Police Department, whether they were injured, and whether arrests were made. In a separate video, protesters could be seen taking down an American flag and tossing it into a river outside Trump Tower, as unrest in the streets grew in Chicago and other cities throughout the United States.
Here’s what you need to know:
Reaction to the Video on Twitter Varied
My observations:
Peaceful, for the most part.
Fights breaking out periodically – people v police
Several buildings & CTA bus stops decorated with graffiti
I really pray Chicago can do this without injuries. The tension and outrage is palpable.
Reaction was swift. Here’s some of it:
“god i cannot watch this, i dont know wtf happened before but any situation where one person gets jumped and kicked at whos already on the floor doesn’t sit right with me, even if it’s goddamn cops.”
“It’s about time. Show them who they work for. Blue Lives Won’t Matter until Black Lives Matter! Straight like that!”
“99% of cops are good people who put their lives on the line to protect people. No (sic) those same people are attacking them, they are innocent and are just trying to protect themselves.”
“THE CHICAGO PROTEST WAS PEACEFUL. then the cops started pushing us off of the road dividers and started cornering us so we have no other option but to fight,” wrote one woman on Twitter, although it’s not clear which incident she was referring to.
The Chicago incident was part of a series of protests and riots that escalated throughout the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A viral video showed a police officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Floyd died, Chauvin and three other officers were fired, and Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Businesses were torched and looted in Minneapolis, and the protests and riots then spread throughout the country in many major cities, with some peaceful and some not.
Brawl erupts between protesters and Chicago police at State and Kinzie t.co/QGp3xIP8HH
More than 100 people were arrested in Chicago in connection with George Floyd unrest on May 29, according to WGN-TV. Protesters were blocking traffic on May 30.
“Lake Shore Drive has been shut down. Avoid coming to the downtown area. CPD officers continue to work to secure the downtown streets,” Chicago Police wrote in a statement on Twitter on May 30.
WBEZ.org wrote of the situation in Chicago on May 30: “Protesters burned flags, scuffled with police, spray-painted graffiti on buildings and blocked traffic in downtown Chicago on Saturday.”
In a news conference, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “We’re going to give people space to express themselves. That’s what we do in Chicago. But we won’t tolerate lawlessness, period.”
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