The day after protests in Chicago near the Christopher Columbus statue in Arrigo Park, Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized both demonstrators accused of attacking police and the police who allegedly responded with excessive force. Protesters marched to Arrigo Park in the Little Italy neighborhood from the Black and Indigenous Solidarity Rally Protests at the Buckingham Fountain three miles east.

Around 6:30 p.m. local time, the demonstrators surrounded the statue of the Italian explorer, chanting "Columbus was a murderer. Columbus was a thief," and threw ropes over the statue. Police arrived to guard the statue, and some demonstrators threw rocks and fired fireworks at them, according to authorities. Police then dispersed protesters with batons and tear gas, establishing a perimeter around the hill the statue rests atop.