Report: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot & CPD Ban Protests on Her Block, Police Ordered to Arrest Those Who Don't Disperse

Nick Kangadis | August 20, 2020

How does that old saying go? ‘Rules for thee, but not for me?’ That sounds about right, and it perfectly sums up the total lack of self-awareness Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot apparently has hypocritically displaying when it comes to “protests.”

According to a Thursday Chicago Tribune article, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has essentially banned protesters from plying their craft on the block where Lightfoot resides, even going so far as ordering officers to arrest “anyone who refuses to leave.”

The Tribune reported:

The directive surfaced in a July email from then-Shakespeare District Commander Melvin Roman to officers under his command. It did not distinguish between the peaceful protesters Lightfoot regularly says she supports and those who might intend to be destructive, but ordered that after a warning is given to demonstrators, “It should be locked down.”

Since the order, and even for a time just prior to its writing, Chicago cops have repeatedly blocked protesters’ access to the block with groups of officers and barricades. Police have often kept protesters contained at the nearby corner of Kimball and Wrightwood avenues, though one standoff between activists and officers last month saw police go as far as bringing in an armored vehicle in case things got out of hand.

The edict has become so ridiculous that neighbors in Lightfoot’s neighborhood are having their IDs checked in order to get into said neighborhood.

“I came up with the name ‘Fort Lori’ because it’s so hard to get in and out,” 69-year-old local resident Ron Kaminecki told the Tribune.

Lightfoot, who has been publicly supportive of the “peaceful protests” that have occurred around the city, only seems supportive if the “protests” don’t affect her personally.

When the mayor isn’t living by a double standard, bashing President Donald Trump for something different every week, and generally ignoring the shootings that are plaguing her city, she’s hypocritically speaking about “economic empowerment” in the black community which is brought to the forefront by “peaceful protests.”

“It's about economic empowerment," Lightfoot said during the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). "Because if people are lifted out of poverty and they are given an opportunity to feel a stake in their own future, that goes a long way.”

Lightfoot has dipped her fingers into so many cookie jars recently, it’s no wonder that Chicago is currently one of the most violent places in the U.S. At least she has the wherewithal to have police, the same police that are facing defunding and/or reform, defend her neighborhood from the “peaceful protesters.”

Here's local coverage from late July of protesters gathering near Lightfoot's home: