More than 100 BLM demonstrators were arrested on Sunday following a night of widespread looting and rioting, which, according to a report, injured at least 13 police officers and has caused over $60 million in property damage.
The rally was held in front of a police station in the city's South Loop neighborhood where organizers said several individuals affiliated with their movement were currently being held in custody.
The demonstrators have also targeted the CPD because they do not believe the department's official story regarding the arrest of one of their own during a police interaction.
According to the CPD, officers responded to reports of a man with a firearm. When they tried to approach the individual, he fled and opened fire on the police, prompting them to defend themselves by returning fire.
The suspect was identified as Latrell Allen, a 20-year-old African American man who was presumably participating in the rioting and looting. He was taken into custody and has been charged with one count of possessing or carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of attempted murder.
“They put out a narrative that this person shot at them,” said Ariel Atkins, a Black Lives Matter organizer. “I'm not [expletive] buying it. Where's the [bodycam footage]?”
Atkins took this opportunity to criticize Lightfoot, who he said is using too much of the city's resources protecting “some buildings” while Chicago residents are dying from the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). Atkins is conveniently ignoring the fact that Black Lives Matter demonstrations are also spreading the deadly virus.
Atkins also tried to justify the rioting and looting by pointing to the oppression that African Americans experienced hundreds of years ago.
“I don't care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy's or a Nike store,” said Atkins, “because that makes sure that person eats. That makes sure that person has clothes. That is reparations. Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.” (Related: How the far-left Black Lives Matter movement promotes a revolution that will destroy America.)
Learn more about the Black Lives Matter movement by listening to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, who talks about how the domestic terrorist organization is being supplied with illegal firearms shipped into the country through distribution hubs by Communist China.
Infighting about to tear Chicago's BLM chapter in two
Not everybody in the Black Lives Matter movement is of one mind that rioting and looting is good for the cause. Aislinn Pulley, one of the founders of the movement's Chicago chapter, came out with a statement saying that the rampant violence is undercutting the message that the organization has been trying to convey.
Pulley argues that the “preoccupation around property damage and looting,” especially at the heart of the city's commercial district, is distracting people from the actual message that Black Lives Matter wants to put out, which is a message of social justice and racial equality.
Pulley and Atkins do agree on one point: The blame lies with Mayor Lightfoot. The BLM founder says that Lightfoot's resistance to fully capitulating to the movement and enacting “any meaningful change” is what is keeping many rioters in the streets, because, according to Pulley, the main cause of the problem is the state of the city's police department.
“There's been no significant decreases in the budget for the CPD, there hasn't even been a promise to decrease the budget for the CPD. We've seen other mayors across the country work with city councils to enact change, that has not occurred here.”
However, Pulley has not called on the rioting to stop, stating that the movement's voices still need to be heard. When asked by Fox News if peaceful protests can meaningfully continue despite the rampant property destruction that simultaneously occurs during a demonstration, Pulley offered a full-throated affirmation.
“Remaining in the streets in terms of organizing, in terms of protest, marching and rallying should continue and will continue, we will continue to have unrest, intercommunal violence and these things.”
The Black Lives Matter movement is pledging to continue rioting until all of their demands have been met. Learn how elected officials across the country are either capitulating to their demands or leading the charge to resist them at Rioting.news.
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