Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended the Chicago Police Department banning protesters from the block where she lives, citing her right to safety.
The Democratic mayor said her family requires heightened security due to threats she receives, but did not elaborate.
“I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” Lightfoot said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
CHICAGO LOOTING SPREE WAS ‘PLANNED ATTACK,’ LIGHTFOOT SAYS
She said comparisons to how the police department protected previous mayors’ homes, such as that of Rahm Emanuel, were unfair because: “This is a different time like no other,” Lightfoot told reporters.
After massive street protests after the killing of George Floyd in May, Chicago police banned protests near the mayor’s home. Officers were instructed to arrest anyone protesting near her Logan Square residence.
More than 100 people have been arrested in recent weeks after looting downtown on Aug. 10 that Lightfoot characterized as a “planned attack.” Officials said “car caravans full” of people stormed Chicago’s Magnificient Mile, Irving North and Gold Coast neighborhoods that Sunday night.
City officials were forced to shut down public transit and lift all bridges to downtown into the following morning.
