FACT CHECK: Were ‘Piles Of Bricks’ Found Outside Of A Chicago Store The Night Before Election Day?
An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows “piles of bricks” found outside of a Chicago store the night before Election Day, seemingly in anticipation of civil unrest.
Verdict: False
The bricks appear to have been part of a building project finished in October. There is no evidence that the image was taken Nov. 2.
Fact Check:
Claims that piles of bricks were being strategically placed near Black Lives Matter protest sites throughout the U.S. to incite violence began spreading in early June, BuzzFeed News reported. While bricks were used to cause damage by some protesters, many instances of photos of bricks turned out to be related to construction projects, not civil unrest, according to Snopes.
The image, which shows a screen grab of a Nov. 2 tweet, claims to show a stack of bricks outside of a store in Chicago. The tweet reads, “Supposedly piles of bricks mysteriously showing up in Chicago tonight. Lovely!” The Facebook user who shared the image remarked, “All assets deployed. Here we go.” (RELATED: Does This Video Show Boston Police ‘Planting’ Bricks At George Floyd Protest Locations?)
However, there is no evidence a stack of bricks was intentionally placed outside the store in Chicago on Nov. 2. The bricks, which were left outside an ice cream shop in a suburb of Chicago, appear to have been used to build a brick patio wall for the nearby restaurant GIA MIA, per The Daily Dot. The patio was completed in October, freelance reporter Mikhail Thalen tweeted.
Thalen further stated that a GIA MIA manager confirmed to him that the bricks were “removed some time ago,” suggesting the photo is outdated.
Additional note: Some people are asking why the bricks are still outside if the patio project was finished in October.
I called GIA MIA and spoke to a manager who said the bricks are not outside and were removed some time ago, which suggests that the initial photo is old.
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) November 3, 2020
“Additional note: Some people are asking why the bricks are still outside if the patio project was finished in October,” the tweet reads. “I called GIA MIA and spoke to a manager who said the bricks are not outside and were removed some time ago, which suggests that the initial photo is old.”
GIA MIA posted a photo of the completed patio wall to Facebook on Oct. 19.
