Gov. J.B. Pritzker decried as hate-filled some of the signs that demostraters in Springfield and Chicago carried Friday to protest his stay-at-home order.
He addressed the issue at his daily briefing Saturday. Of the hundreds gathered at state buildings in Chicago and Springfield, including the state Capitol. Some carried signs with swastikas that said, HEIL PRITZKER.
“I will say that the people who were protesting, there were quite a number of people who seem to have been carrying signs filled with hate. You know, there were people carrying signs with swastikas on them suggesting … either that they believe in Nazi-ism or they think it's okay to throw the invective at people with a swastika,’’ he said. “What I can tell you for myself is that I have spent decades of my life fighting against bigotry and hatred. I helped build a Holocaust museum. I've worked with Holocaust survivors. The meaning of that swastika is apparently unknown to the people who are carrying it, or if it is known, it is a demonstration of the hate that is among us.
“These were a few hundred demonstrators. And there are millions of people in the state of Illinois, really good people who are doing the right thing, protecting each other during this extraordinary crisis,” Pritzker said.
He also said it is his hope that those protesters not wearing masks didn’t spread COVID-19.
