JOLIET, IL — Several Joliet clergy members joined Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk at Tuesday night’s Black Lives Matter rally near the White Castle restaurant at Jefferson and Larkin. Toward the end of the evening, the mayor and councilman Larry Hug knelt in the parking lot and participated in a short prayer.

At least 130 to 140 people showed up for Tuesday night’s rally, a larger crowd than Monday night.

For much of the night, several demonstrators turned their attention away from the passing motorists at the busy intersection. Instead, large groups gathered around Joliet’s mayor. Several people demanded the mayor apologize for being captured on a Sunday night video throwing a demonstrator to the ground on West Jefferson Street.

By that point Sunday, police closed down Jefferson and Larkin and sent the people gathered at the Black Lives Matter on their way. The police had announced that event had turned into an unlawful assembly after some demonstrators began jumping on cars and throwing objects at the police.

By Monday morning, at least 10 Joliet businesses were damaged by looters, a Mexican grocery store went up flames and Joliet police arrested a total of 30 people stemming from the looting and mob-related activities.

Tuesday night, the mayor told everyone he was within his right to defend himself. He maintained he was being attacked from behind. Some people at Tuesday night’s rally asked him if he should be charged with battery. Others wanted him to admit his behavior was improper, and they said he set a bad example for the Joliet Police Department.

O’Dekirk was a Joliet officer during the 1990s before he became a lawyer.

Some people at Tuesday night’s rally came to the mayor’s defense.

Pastor Andre Williams, from Joliet’s Love of Christ Ministries at 411 S. Larkin Ave., told the crowd he was a former Chicago police officer of six years. His mother was a Chicago cop for 31 years. His daughter is a Detroit cop. He has three cousins who are police officers and his brother is a Cook County Sheriff’s deputy.

"I’ve lived both sides of this issue," Williams told everyone. He said that as a teenager he was abused by a police officer. Then, as an adult, he went to work in Chicago’s 5th District. "That’s a war zone," he told everyone.

At one point, Williams told the crowd that he knew first-hand that some police officers across the country are dirty.

"Do they plant drugs? Yes," he said.

One gray-haired woman spoke up while Williams was addressing the large group. "I want to fight for you because I have white privilege," she told Williams. "And he (pointing to a white demonstrator) grew up in white privilege, and he’ll be the first to tell you that."

"OK, let me just say this," Williams responded, extending his arms so that everyone would listen. "If we continue to come together, I guarantee you, it will be just a matter of time before it all starts to die. I know it looks dark right now …"

Williams told Tuesday night’s crowd there are more police officers on their side and support their peaceful demonstrations in light of last week’s death of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis officer.

"Can we overcome this? Yes," Williams hollered.

Toward the end of Tuesday night’s rally, Williams knelt and prayed with O’Dekirk in the White Castle parking lot.

Joliet resident Steve Newell was displeased.

Newell called the mayor’s decision to kneel at the Black Lives Matter demonstration a publicity stunt for the newspapers.

"He won’t apologize," Newell repeated. "It don’t mean anything. He won’t apologize for his actions."

Elsewhere at the rally, Joliet resident Candice Quinerly held a microphone as she urged demonstrators to remain focused on why they gathered Tuesday night.

"We are disrupting the status quo. We will not stop standing on this corner. We will not stop protesting until there is justice," she told everyone. "We want answers from our mayor, who was out here, telling us lies. He is out here trying to enforce thuggery. It’s not us. We’re out here peacefully every single day. We want answers … Black Lives Matter."

Reflecting on Sunday night’s incident that resulted in two arrests, O’Dekirk told Tuesday night’s group: "I was trying to help stop that situation Sunday."

"You were doing the job of the police, sir," one man disagreed.

"I was trying to stop the violence," O’Dekirk responded back.

"Now, they probably said something wrong to you that you didn’t like," the demonstrator told O’Dekirk. "Did they touch you? Where did they touch you?"

"He pushed me," O’Dekirk said.

"Where?" the man asked.

"And when he went to push me I knocked his hands away and I grabbed him. That’s what happened," O’Dekirk said.

Finally, another man entered the group and defended O’Dekirk.

"Excuse me, can I ask a question. What’s the point?" the man told the demonstrator addressing the mayor. "I understand the point. What do you want him to say? What does that prove? … You came here asking the same question for an hour. I’ve been hearing the same question for an hour."

A young woman then shouted she was trying to know exactly what happened.

"Could we be doing something more, could we be doing something better than this?" the man next to O’Dekirk asked her. "Listen, I’m here to pray for anybody."

One of the demonstrators told the mayor he wanted all the Joliet officers who were standing on the perimeter of the White Castle property to kneel with the mayor as a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

O’Dekirk said he talked with the police, but they were not going to join him.

"Have them kneel with us or this (expletive) is a lie," the young man snapped.

At 8 p.m., Joliet’s emergency curfew took effect and the demonstrators all left the White Castle property without causing any problems with the police.