Joliet mayor plans to be at Black Lives Matter protest Tuesday

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said he will be at a protest Tuesday evening to meet with demonstrators as a video circulates of him apparently taking down a protester at a similar event that turned violent.

O'Dekirk said his attendance at the rally is not related to the video and said he has been at previous protests to talk with demonstrators.

"I think it's my role to bring people together," he said. "If people have concerns and want to raise them, again, I want to make myself available."

The city issued a news release announcing that the Tuesday evening meeting of the Joliet City Council has been canceled “due to continued civil disturbance and potential acts of violence.”

“The mayor is encouraging community leaders and local pastors to join him in Joliet at Jefferson and Larkin Avenue at 6 p.m. in an effort to maintain order and prevent any further violence,” the release said.

Earlier Tuesday, O'Dekirk issued a statement about the incident that occurred at the same location Sunday in which he and a protester go to the ground in a confrontation

O’Dekirk, a former Joliet police officer, said he was “confronted by a rioter, then attacked.” and used “standard police tactics to immobilize the attacker.”

It is not clear in the video that the protester attacked the mayor.

O'Dekirk has said previously that police broke up the protest as stones and other objects were being thrown at them.

Tuesday will be the third day the Black Lives Matter demonstration will be held at Jefferson and Larkin.

The protest was peaceful Monday and broke up at 8 p.m. as police requested that people leave in accordance with a curfew that had been initiated Monday in response to the violence the night before.