A 21-year-old man has been charged with a hate crime, arson and other offenses for a in a Chicago park, police said.
Merlin Lu this week that he was responsible for the recent cross burning in Grant Park. But he insisted that he was protesting President Donald Trump and Christian nationalists and was not using the cross as a historical symbol of hate against Black people.
Lu appeared in court Thursday on four felonies and four misdemeanors, including a hate crime, property damage and burning a cross to intimidate. A judge denied a request by prosecutors to keep him detained.
Defense attorney Alexander Michael told the judge that Lu was exercising free speech in a 鈥渇oolish manner.鈥� He also disputed that it could be a hate crime against certain Christians.
On June 9, in the middle of the day, Lu created a cross with two pieces of wood, wrapped it in toilet paper, doused it with kerosene and started a fire, Cook County prosecutors said in a court filing. The fire left burn marks on the trunk and limbs of a tree.
Lu told WMAQ-TV before his arrest that his intent was not to intimidate Black people. He said he was protesting the 鈥渞uling class鈥� and Christian nationalists who support Trump, and attached a red hat to symbolize the MAGA hat favored by the president’s allies.
鈥淚 did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn鈥檛 know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,鈥� Lu said of a burning cross. 鈥淐ause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.鈥�
Someone put a large, multicolored, glass fiber heart with the word, 鈥渞esilient,鈥� in the place where the burning cross stood in the park.
Lu’s LinkedIn page says he has attended college in Indiana and Chicago and was studying chemistry.
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