Cross burning in Chicago startles passers-by

Passers-by discover a burning cross at a Chicago park, and local police are investigating the motive behind it.

Video taken by a motorist shows the 6-foot wooden cross engulfed in flames in popular Grant Park Tuesday afternoon.

While the motive is not immediately clear, cross burnings in the US have historically been seen as "symbols of hate" related to the history of the Ku Klux Klan.

The US Supreme Court rules that cross burning can be banned if the intention is to intimidate, but otherwise may be allowed as symbolic speech under the First Amendment.