In Chicago, volunteers clean up a Best Buy store on August 10, 2020 after looting the day before. - Charles Rex Arbogast / AP / SIPA

Racial tensions do not abate in Chicago. Looting and clashes with police broke out overnight Sunday, injuring 13 officers and leading to the arrest of more than 100 people, authorities said on Monday. This outbreak of violence came following a call for mobilization on social media as police responded to an armed suspect.

Police responded to a report of a gunman on Sunday afternoon, chief David Brown said Monday morning. After exchanges of fire, a crowd formed and tension mounted, fueled by several "publications on social networks encouraging looting," he detailed at a press conference. Several online calls claimed that the police had shot a 15-year-old but according to the authorities, it was an armed adult who opened fire on the police while fleeing. The suspect has been hospitalized and is expected to survive.

Since the death of George Floyd last May, anti-racist mobilization has generally fallen in the United States but continues in several American cities, in particular in Portland, Chicago and Seattle, where it has degenerated for several weeks.

The mayor "in shock"

A total of 400 officers have been deployed to the city center, and police have made more than 100 arrests, he said. Many stores had their windows smashed Monday morning.

“We wake up in shock this morning,” said the city's Democratic mayor, Lori Lightfoot, denouncing “abject, and outright criminal” behavior. "These individuals participated in what can only be qualified as vast and shameful destruction and looting," she added, calling on the population to provide any information allowing the investigation of these events to advance.

Some 13 police officers were injured in the events, said David Brown. In the past seven days, nine officers have been shot, he lamented. A reinforced presence of the police will be maintained in the city center until further notice, he added.

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