On Saturday, April 15, 2023, dozens of young people gathered in the streets of downtown Chicago. The riot attacked multiple passersby and destroyed both private and public properties. Of the hundreds that gathered downtown, assaulting passersby and vandalizing vehicles, only 16 people have been arrested.
This violent and chaotic display showed no ulterior motive behind their actions. Unlike past downtown riots during the events of the George Floyd lawsuit, many citizens see the act as a result of the teen’s own prerogative to cause a disturbance.
After Saturday’s events, Illinois Senior Senate. Dick Durbin in plain terms calls the people’s actions to be “disgusting, awful, terrible.” The normally composed senator ensures that the actions of the people are a mockery of our “constitutional right or freedom of expression”
“The videos I saw, that activity on the streets downtown, are just disgusting, awful, terrible. Violence is never acceptable. — unacceptable,” Durbin claims.
Indiscriminate Downtown Violence
What ensued Saturday did not only include public disturbances and vandalism. Tourists and even other teenagers fell victim to injuries from the riot.
One couple in particular unfortunately suffered a brutal ordeal that Saturday. Ashley Knutson and her boyfriend Devante Garrison-Johnson, DJ, meet the active crowd walking along Wabash Avenue.
Knuston recalls telling her boyfriend as a crowd shoved by them that she was pushed and the following minutes quickly turned violent. As her partner confronts the crowd to ‘not put your hands on her’ the situation escalated. A video captures a mob of over 20 to 30 people crowding around a now-downed DJ as they assault him.
“They went crazy. Started jumping us, saying they were going to kill us,” Knuston recalls in a interview.
At the time of the crime there was no outside intervention from nearby cops but instead from another citizen watching the abuse.
A woman, Lenora Dennis, exited a Macy’s just before the attack seconds before it happened. At first, Dennis attempts to wave police cars towards the clear attack happening. Despite the woman intercepting cars the police allegedly drove around her.
“Once I saw that there will be no external intervention, yeah, absolutely, I said I can’t let him just get killed in front of my face. That’s not the thing to do. So yeah, bad. I felt like it was that bad,” Dennis said. “I’m just telling them, get out of that area. And as I was telling them that, the group came back around the corner and started fighting again. And so that’s when I was like, this going to be an all-night ordeal if I don’t get them out of there.”
The woman after realizing no one would help against the mob-like situation, escorted the young couple into her car. Both made it to the nearest police station, however, now missing their phones, wallets, or shoes.
Seen as Lawlessness or Activism?
In view of the crimes that took place Saturday, many politicians see the situation as a result of a political agenda. However, many citizens see this as an act to receive “attention.”
Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, described the event as ” unacceptable and has no place in our city.” Despite this the mayor claims no further action in issuing serious punishment as to not “demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”
Now Chicago’s North Riverside Mall expects a similar event of “public unrest,” leaving citizens uneasy. North Riverside Mayor Joseph Mengoni claims his department received an anonymous tip of a similar riot-like action taking place soon within the mall.
“They want the attention. I just think they are too young to know exactly what they are doing,” claims a Lyons resident in response to the suspected agenda behind it.
Written by Brielle R. Buford
Sources:
ABC 7: Couple beaten, robbed during Chicago downtown chaos over weekend, helped by Good Samaritan
ABC 7: ‘I’m scared’: Police prepare for possible North Riverside Mall unrest after downtown Chicago chaos
ABC 7: Durbin calls downtown Chicago violence ‘disgusting, awful, terrible,’ especially after DNC secured
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Kelly Kline‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of LCCR & LCCREF‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
