WATCH: Chicago Mayor Responds To Decision To Ban Protests Near Her Home (VIDEO)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her increase of police protection in her neighborhood as well as the banning of protests in other residential areas.
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Mayor Lightfoot stated, “This is a different time like no other. And I’m not going to make any excuses for the fact that given the threats that I personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that they are protected. And I make no apologies whatsoever for that. We are living in a very different time. And I’ve seen the threats that have come in. And I have an obligation to keep my home, my wife, my 12-year-old, and my neighbors safe.”
The ban has sparked debate about the First Amendment being violated.
Ed Yohnka from American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois stated, “Neither state nor local government can write a law which violates the Constitution of the United States. As it’s been interpreted by the Supreme Court, as of now, the limitation is on protest at a particular home, not a particular block.”
Earlier this year, Lightfoot blamed the ongoing violence in her city on Republicans and claimed that there are ‘too many guns’.
Mayor Light stated earlier, “Why are we engaged in such violence? Because there are too many damn guns on our streets. And why is that so? Because the Republican leadership for way too long, including this president refuses to even have a conversation about ‘common sense’ gun reform.”
Reporters asked the police chief to clarify what the new protest restrictions entail.
Police Chief David Brown responds, “No, protesting in neighborhoods. Neighborhoods. It is not legal. What we try to do is err on the side of First Amendment rights. And so we give some a little bit of wiggle room there. We compromise. Except for the embedded violence we’ve seen, we have to accept that that’s a reality today. It’s unprecedented that you would embed violent offenders in a peaceful protest, but that’s what’s happened. So we’re going to protect not only our downtown, our other neighborhoods. But the mayor’s neighborhood is also included in that.
Click below to watch the video!
