19 people arrested at Lollapalooza
CHICAGO >> Nineteen people were arrested at the fourday Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park, according to figures the city released Monday morning.
The Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in a news release that there also were seven violations and 102 transports.
Most of the arrests were for trespassing when people tried to breach fences to gain access to the concert or otherwise attempted to get in for free, Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said at a news conference.
“It was one of the safest Lollapaloozas we’ve done in recent years,” he said.
Superintendent David Brown at the news conference was unable to provide information on the non-trespassing arrests.
The largest number of arrests was 12 on Friday. One person was arrested
Thursday, six on Saturday and none Sunday, according to the OEMC.
Carter said that more than 120 cellphones were recovered.
Festival organizer C3 Presents said that the attendance was about 100,000 a day. Police said the four-day figure was about 385,000.
According to OEMC, there were 31 arrests in 2019 and 12 in 2018. There was no festival in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Festival organizers said on their social media site Monday that tentative dates for the 2022 festival are July 28-31, but that is subject to negotiations with the city.
One of the performers who did not get to see festivalgoers arrested for sneaking in was DaBaby. The singer was scheduled to perform Sunday night but was replaced in the lineup after making remarks at a festival in Florida that were seen as mocking the LGBTQ community and those living with HIV and AIDS.
On Sunday morning, hours before he was set to perform, Lollapalooza organizers announced that DaBaby was dropped from the lineup.
“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love,” organizers wrote. “With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.”
Young Thug performed Sunday night instead.