Police detained several individuals after dispersing a group that sought to fall the statuary of Christopher Columbus in midtown Chicago late Friday.
The Chicago Police Department said in a declaration that policemans took 12 individuals into custodianship adhering to a huge demonstration at Grant Park, where the statue lies.
Those who were detained “can potentially face costs that might include Battery to a Police Officer, Mob Action, and/or various other felonies,” the department claimed.
“As the group came close to the Christopher Columbus statue, some members of the crowd activated the police and also made use of the objection to attack officers with fireworks, rocks, frozen bottles, and also other things,” the Chicago Police Department stated.
The statue was not fallen although graffiti might be seen at the base of the monolith. The city had covered the statuary with plastic for numerous weeks, at the very least given that June.
Protesters at the rally were calling to defund the Chicago Police Department. Black Lives Matter Chicago, Chi-Nations Youth Council, Black Youth Project 100, and other teams were the organizers behind the event, according to NBC Chicago.
“Officers existed to not just secure the building, but they were to guarantee the security of the activists as well as their First Amendment right to oppose peacefully when the group activated the authorities, actually assailed the cops with all their projectiles,” Chicago police spokesperson Thomas Ahern told the Chicago Tribune.