LITTLE VILLAGE — Three people landed behind bars Saturday night after mobbing a home owned by Ald. George Cardenas (12th) with rocks, pieces of wood and tiki torches, according to the alderman and police.
The mob of more than 50 people was protesting police violence in the city, said Cardenas, who provided DNAinfo Chicago with a video clip shot outside the home, where his ex-wife, two daughters and his mother live:
Police eventually arrested three protesters in the 2100 block of South Marshall.
Efrain Montalvo, 23, of the 2600 block of West 22nd Place; Javier Ramos, a 29-year-old Des Plaines resident; and Billie Kincaid, a 25-year-old woman from the 1500 block of West Lunt Avenue, each stand charged with one misdemeanor count of mob action.
Cardenas had been eating dinner with a friend across town when the mob rolled down 26th Street in Little Village and ended up in front of his house.
The mob carried props — like this bloodied pig figure dressed in a military uniform.
Protesters eventually peppered the South Lawndale house with rocks and pieces of wood, but there was no major damage, Cardenas said.
“The scary part was these folks had torches with them,” the West Side alderman said. “Those tiki torches you use in the backyard when you’re having a cookout.”
Cardenas said the majority of the protesters were carrying them to light a path to walk through the darkness, but it was irresponsible of the mob to carry fire through the streets.
“They’re dangerous,” Cardenas said. “They could’ve throw them into the house and burned the house down.”
Cardenas, who lives in McKinley Park, said there’s a better way to protest.
“That should not happen,” he said. “In modern times, there’s a way to protest in a civil way.”
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