In three of the country’s most hard hit areas in the terms of riots claim they have found evidence that the riots were well planned and executed in such a way as to create the most chaos. In Kansas City, they found stacks of bricks and rocks stationed near the scene of the riots.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants the feds to investigate the origins of the riots and who is behind them and also who is financing them. There are claims that Chicago is working with three federal agencies about possible investigations.
Lightfoot said:
“There is no doubt. This was an organized effort last night. There were clearly efforts to subvert the peaceful process and make it into something violent.”
“There’s no question that both the people who were fighting and brought the weapons, that was absolutely organized and choreographed. It seems also clear that the fires that were set, both of the vehicles and buildings, that that was organized and that was opportunistic, as well as the looting.”
In New York, terrorism task force officials told an NBC affiliate that there were “strong indicators” that rioters “planned for violence in advance using at times encrypted communications.”
“Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said there is a high level of confidence within the NYPD that these unnamed groups had organized scouts, medics, and supply routes of rocks, bottles, and accelerants for breakaway groups to commit vandalism and violence,” NBC News New York reported Sunday.
“Before the protests began, organizers of certain anarchists groups set out to raise bail money and people who would be responsible to be raising bail money, they set out to recruit medics and medical teams with gear to deploy in anticipation of violent interactions with police,” Miller said, per NBC New York. “They prepared to commit property damage and directed people who were following them that this should be done selectively and only in wealthier areas or at high-end stores run by corporate entities.”
In Minnesota, officials, speaking at a press conference Sunday, said that they’d intercepted several vehicles carrying “flammable materials” as well as “looted goods and weapons,” according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Officials also reported that law enforcement found “caches” of materials that appear to have been left for rioters to use.
“Earlier Sunday, state officials said several caches of flammable materials were found both in neighborhoods where there have already been fires and ‘in cars we’ve stopped as recently as this morning,’” according to a public safety commissioner. “Some of the caches look like they may have been planted days ago and some only in the last 24 hours or so, he said.”