Man charged with hate crime over cross burning in Chicago park

A 21- year old man who admitted to setting fire to a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park last week is now in police custody on hate crime charges, per Chicago police. Merlin Lu was arrested and charged with four felony and four misdemeanor counts related to the incident on 9 June. Police released photos of a “person of interest” last week allegedly fleeing the scene. The photos showed a young man who appeared to be in his 20s, with dark hair, wearing a black backpack, dark trousers and white sneakers. Rev Michael L Pfleger, pastor of Chicago’s Faith Community of Saint Sabina, offered a $10,000 reward for finding the perpetrator of the cross burning, which has long been associated with racism, white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. “This was so premeditated. You made this cross somewhere. You carried it, you got it downtown. You put it in one of the most visible spots in Chicago and then you set it afire,” Pfleger told ABC7, adding: “This is a decades-old symbol of hate and supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. This is their symbol.” Lu spoke to NBC Chicago earlier this week prior to his arrest, where the University of Illinois Chicago senior claimed “my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to with gender.” He said he placed a red hat on top of the cross to protest Donald Trump . …