A New York businessman hired a plane to fly over Philadelphia exhorting peace on Tuesday

After a chaotic weekend of protests, looting, and a police crackdown on marchers decrying racism and brutality, on Tuesday a plane circled the skies over Philadelphia, pulling a banner that read “BLESS THE PEACEMAKERS 4 THEY SHALL INHERIT EARTH."

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The banner, a shortened form of one of the blessings from the Gospel of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, was paid for by a New York City businessman who had similar banners flown over New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, his assistant said in a phone call.

“He just wanted to do something, based on everything that’s going on in the world today,” said Emily Emeneker, the man’s assistant, who declined to name him and did not send a further statement on her employer’s feelings on the unrest that has roiled cities around the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.

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Emeneker did say the gesture was unusual for her employer; she could not recall him doing anything similar in the seven years she had worked for him.

The plane flew in from New Jersey Tuesday morning and circled the city for some time.

High Exposure Aerial Advertising, the New Jersey company contracted to fly the plane, is the largest aerial advertising company in the Northeast and says they are often contracted to fly planes bearing political messages. Given the protests over the last weekend, said David Dempsey, “we’re pretty sure there’s other [requests] coming.”