Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned protestors Tuesday that the city was “ready to arrest and bring to prosecution” ahead of the Derek Chauvin verdict.
Lightfoot’s remarks came before a jury verdict Tuesday found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
“Don’t test us,” Lightfoot said. “We are ready and we are prepared … to arrest and bring to prosecution anyone who would dare [to] try to take the dreams of our small businesses by looting.”
“Don’t test us, ’cause we’re ready,” she reiterated.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s message to looters ahead of Chauvin verdict: “Don’t test us because we are ready.” pic.twitter.com/12pDRy1dPp
— The Recount (@therecount) April 20, 2021
Lightfoot also said she had requested Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to send 125 Illinois National Guard members to Chicago in case their assistance will be needed to break up violent protests, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. (RELATED: DC Activates National Guard In Anticipation Of Chauvin Trial Verdict)
“They’re on standby. They’re not actually gonna be active unless we need them. They’ll be available and close, but on standby. Physically present in Chicago, but not running posts like they did for a little time last summer,” Lightfoot said of the guard members.
Additionally, the mayor claimed that the mistakes of the 2020 demonstrations have been learned and the city is now “better prepared,” the report says.
The inspector general of Chicago, Joseph Ferguson, issued a scathing 152-page report in February which heavily criticized Lightfoot and Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, accusing their actions of causing “strategic and tactical incoherence” of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
“CPD was unprepared to deal with protests and unrest on a scale which required it to arrest 1,000 people in concentrated time periods over the course of two days,” Ferguson said.