CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lightfoot said the people who clashed with police downtown over the weekend were looking for a fight.
Saturday's march for police reform from the South Side to Millennium Park was largely peaceful, but the situation grew tense near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive early Saturday evening.
Police said protesters attacked officers with pepper spray, and in one case a skateboard. Protest organizers said police were the aggressors. At least 17 officers were injured and 24 people were arrested – four of them on felony charges.
Mayor Lightfoot addressed Saturday's skirmish between police and protesters on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday and said it was not a “planned attack” like the looting that occurred early last Monday morning; but she said people did show up to the protest looking for a fight.
"No, look, unfortunately, what we've seen in cities all across the country, not just Chicago, is a continuing wave of protests. The vast majority of these have been peaceful. But what we've also seen is people who have embedded themselves in these seemingly peaceful protests and come for a fight," the Mayor said. "So what happened yesterday was really over very fairly quickly because our police department is resolved to make sure that we protect peaceful protests. But we are absolutely not going to tolerate people who come to these protests looking for a fight and are intending to injure our police officers and injure innocent people who just come to be able to express their First Amendment rights. That is a very different thing that happened yesterday, that unfortunately, what happened in the looting last Sunday night, which absolutely was a planned attack. It's not spontaneous when you bring U-Haul trucks, cargo vans and high end robbery tools."
Lightfoot also said the city is working with federal investigators to find the organizers of last week's looting spree.
"Well, that's what we're working with our federal partners to identify exactly who the ringleaders are. We obviously made one hundred plus arrests that night. We're actively pursuing cases against others, but we are determined to make sure that we get to the bottom of this and bring those responsible for this organized crime effort to justice," she said.