May 31, 2020 | 2:34pm
Illinois National Guard troops are being deployed to Chicago during George Floyd protests, the city’s mayor said Sunday.
A “hurt and angry” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Twitter that she had asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker to send the guard to the Second City after violent confrontations between police and demonstrators protesting the police-custody death of Floyd in Minneapolis.
Lightfoot has also ordered a curfew put in place Saturday to continue indefinitely.
“In addition to our 9pm-6am curfew that will remain in place until further notice, Governor Pritzker — at my request — has ordered a small contingent of the National Guard to maintain a limited presence and support our police in order to ensure we don’t have a repeat of last night,” the mayor wrote Sunday.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” she said in another post. “What you have done is a dishonor to our city… and it’s long and proud legacy as a leader of bold and vibrant peaceful protests.”
Lightfoot also said she was “disgusted,” and “hurt and angry at those who decided to try to hijack this moment and to use this opportunity to bring havoc… to loot and destroy.”
Nearly 3,000 protestors gathered at Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Saturday afternoon to protest Floyd’s Memorial Day death, the Chicago Tribute reported.
The demonstrators became increasingly violent throughout the day, throwing fireworks and bottles at police and damaging property, the paper said. At least one police sergeant suffered a broken arm during the scuffling.
Floyd, 46, died while being pinned down by since-fired Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin on Monday, sparking outrage and massive protests throughout the country.
