Chicago’s top cop defends police actions during protests

By DON BABWIN Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown says video of weekend clashes between officers and protesters shows a “concerted effort” by protesters to provoke violence by the police. At a news conference on Monday, Brown defended his officers and said it’s clear they acted professionally and responded appropriately to violence that left several of them injured. He says video shows people in the crowd doing things like putting on gas masks, changing clothes to hide their identities and opening umbrellas to shield from view people throwing projectiles at officers. Many activists and some lawmakers, though, say the police were the aggressors.