Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot denounced President Donald Trump, saying he was “encouraging people to be shot in the street” after referring to those who’ve protested in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd as “THUGS” and saying that “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
“I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump,” Lightfoot said. “It’s two words. It begins with F and ends with you.”
She added that the president aims to “polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. And we absolutely cannot let him prevail.”
Derek Chauvin, the police officer seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he cried out “I can’t breathe,” was arrested and charged with third-degree murder after three days of violent protests in Minneapolis. Chauvin faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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“Its been a painful reminder that while we have been focused on fighting this violence, we know our work and facing hard truths about Mr. Floyd, and I think about my brothers and men in my family,” Lightfoot said, recalling the death of Laquan McDonald, a Chicago teen who was shot 16 times by police officers in 2014.
Twitter flagged President Trump for “glorifying violence” in his tweets about the George Floyd protests.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
