Chicago locals fight off protesters and shut down BLM rally to prevent looting
Chicago locals fight off protesters and shut down BLM rally to prevent looting
By Lee Brown
August 12, 2020 | 8:48am | Updated
A largely black group of Chicago residents infuriated by looters blighting the city pushed back against a Black Lives Matter protest.
As access was again blocked to downtown overnight to stop more marauding — with bridges raised and expressway ramps closed — protesters turned to the South Side, where a man allegedly started a shootout with cops in an arrest that sparked chaos.
The Englewood locals resisted, kicking out the protesters from BLM and groups campaigning to defund the police, according to Fox 32.
“If you ain’t from Englewood, get the f–k out of here,” longtime local resident Darryl Smith shouted at protesters during tense confrontations.
“Y’all don’t come out when a kid gets shot. Y’all come out when it’s got something to do with the f—ing police,” he yelled through a loudspeaker, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“If your issue is with the police, take it to 35th and Michigan,” he shouted, referring to Chicago police HQ.
“Don’t come in Englewood with it.”
The rally made its way to the police station for the officers involved in Sunday’s shootout with Latrell Allen — but again was quickly dispersed after angry pushback by locals who said the looting was nothing to do with the neighborhood.
“None of these motherf—ers are gonna be here tomorrow. That’s why I got a problem,” lifelong Englewood resident Duane Kidd, 42, told the Sun-Times.
“If they would’ve gotten something incited with the police, who’s gotta deal with it tomorrow? The community. Not them.
“They’ll be somewhere sipping sangria somewhere. I’m telling you like it is.”
The march dispersed after less than an hour following the standoff, with an organizer saying they did not feel safe.
“We refuse to let anyone come to Englewood and tear it up,” one local, Charles McKenzie, told the station.
Even a grandmother of Allen — who was struck by return fire after shooting at cops Sunday, triggering the looting — lashed out at the carnage, saying there is “no excuse” for it.
Demonstrators protest outside the 7th District station of the Chicago Police Department.Getty Images
“I don’t agree with the looting because that’s just an excuse to get what they want,” Joyce Brown told the Sun-Times.
A Chicago Black Lives Matter organizer, Ariel Atkins, previously defended the looting, calling it a “reparation.”
https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/chicag...own-blm-rally/
