Businesses are ramping back up as isolation measures are eased by city and state officials, but mass returns to busy office towers are unlikely in the months to come. The coalition includes some of the Chicago area’s biggest and best-known companies, such as McDonald’s, United Airlines, Walgreens, Allstate, Hyatt Hotels and Exelon, and is in consultation with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Meanwhile, about a dozen mosques in the area have slowly begun welcoming back Muslims, according to Abdullah Mitchell, executive director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. The organizations are marking social distancing points in prayer areas.

Foreman’s complaint, which identifies the officer Foreman said struck him, is one of 344 complaints of police misconduct filed with COPA between midnight May 29 and 7 a.m. Friday, Eaddy said.

In response to the mayor’s words, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said it is she who should be resigning instead of the officer who flipped off protesters, because she said “F-U” in response to President Donald Trump.

“I also want to announce that we will be opening Grant Park and Union Park to an effort for residents to express their pain in the murder of George Floyd,” Mayor Lightfoot said. The mayor also said Chicago’s curfew will remain in place for the time being.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, in a tweeted statement, said she welcomes the probe into the city’s “response to the protests, violence, and looting. Just as the overwhelming majority of protests remained peaceful this week, the vast majority of officers followed their training and supervisor direction during these difficult times.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a Friday press conference, “We will absolutely have an eye towards equity and we’ll work with the Chicago Community Trust to define the parameters, but it’s really for businesses all over the city.”

“I think we’ve got a system in place now that works well and shows a limited ability of CPD to be in schools,” Lightfoot said. “But all of that is now in the hands of building principals and CPS, which is where it should have been from the very beginning.”

“Watching that whole thing was very heartbreaking, very ugly,” Taylor said. “I felt like the cops were down there to do nothing. The people who were protesting weren’t protesting lawfully. Who was even leading protest?”

A group of residents sent a letter Thursday to Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward). “We are asking you to keep us safe from gangs of men, marching our streets with weapons. Let me ask you — who are you keeping Bridgeport safe for? We hope it is for all of us, and I thereby hope that it is for our Black neighbors as well,” it reads.

“I am absolutely concerned about the reopening,” said Dr. Pamela Vergara-Rodriguez, of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System. “I just don’t see how we can reopen in Chicago if our black and brown communities don’t have the virus under better control.”

“We as a city are tired of being told we do not have enough money to support citizens,” organizers said on the protest’s event page. “That we don’t have enough money for nurses, counselors, mental health clinics, affordable housing [and] equitable transportation.” The city budgeted nearly $1.8 billion for CPD in 2020, according to Chicago’s budget overview.

“It’s easy to dismiss prison and police abolition as unrealistic and out of touch, but if one is seriously interested in figuring out how to keep communities safe while reducing violence and other crime, abolitionists offer a plethora of practical ideas.”

Budgets for law enforcement reflect political power, not a need to deal with record low crime rates.

After the double whammy of the virus and civil unrest, “Businesses have two choices: Give up, or double down. And I believe people want to double down,” said David Casper, chief executive officer of BMO Harris Bank.