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Squad cars damaged in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — Several police cars were damaged, including at least one set on fire, as protests continued Saturday over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

Officers struck multiple demonstrators with batons amid the protest near the Trump Tower on the city’s Near North Side, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Video sent out by another local reporter also showed police in tactical gear walking on a downtown street.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a 9 p.m curfew that runs until 6 a.m. Sunday.

Lightfoot condemned Floyd’s death during a Saturday night news conference and defended the idea of demonstrating to honor him. But she added that a peaceful protest has “devolved into criminal conduct” and police will be aggressive with arrests for anyone caught damaging property.

“When you or anyone else behaves in this way, we all lose by giving the very same forces of oppression we are fighting against the false validation that they crave,” the mayor said.

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