Increasingly, we’re seeing evidence that BLM “protests” on the streets of various cities aren’t aimed solely at raising awareness for an issue, they are also intended to directly confront anyone they encounter, sometimes violently. That’s what happened in downtown Pittsburgh Saturday and some of it was captured on video. The woman who shot these two clips provided this description:
Yesterday I was enjoying a late lunch in Pittsburgh on an outdoor table when a “peaceful” demonstration came though right past us. I was shocked with what I experienced next. We witnessed demonstrators bullying, harassing and physically assaulting random people simply walking past them or quietly enjoying a meal. Drinks were taken out of restaurant patrons hands and drank before throwing to the ground. People were shaken & scared as they ran away from their tables around us.
In this first clip, a guy with a bullhorn is yelling in the ear of a man carrying a bike. He uses the bullhorn to shove the guy in the head. The man carrying the bike responds by swatting at the bullhorn. And then a 2nd person swings and hits the man holding the bike over the head with a skateboard. Fortunately, he was wearing a bike helmet but this is clearly assault.
PITTSBURGH PA pic.twitter.com/xXn6EQpENb
— President-Elect Dr BadPantsGator PhD (@drrollergator) September 7, 2020
It appears that this same group returned to the restaurant they had already passed and began harassing people who were eating there. As you can see, one woman even walks up to a table and drinks a beer belonging to one of the customers. Her shirt reads “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter.”
PITTSBURGH PA pic.twitter.com/PxZGxpJIca
— President-Elect Dr BadPantsGator PhD (@drrollergator) September 6, 2020
There’s an obvious racial component to these incidents. The people doing the hitting and harassing are black and the targets of abuse are mostly white. In some cases the abuse is specifically because people are white. It’s clearly not because the diners are doing anything to the activists. They’re just trying to have lunch.
Later that night a woman who appears to be the same person who drank the stranger’s beer was leading the protesters as they disrupted other restaurants on their way to the Mayor’s house.
9/5/20 Pittsburgh, PA | Protesters march through commercial district to Mayor Peduto’s home again.
Credit: Christian Snyder pic.twitter.com/AomWsTjRzC
— Liz Jones (@LizJone26271417) September 6, 2020
More harassment, this time targeting a restaurant owner they claim offended them:
9/5/20 Pittsburgh, PA | Protesters arrive at Mayor Peduto’s home. They chant “F*ck 12!” at police and shine strobe lights at them.
Credit: Christian Snyder pic.twitter.com/RmrD46tmvR
— Liz Jones (@LizJone26271417) September 6, 2020
The mayor of Pittsburgh wasn’t thrilled:
Tonight at my home – private property. The 1st Amendment doesn’t protect you to close down streets, without a permit. Yes, we have granted extra rights to assure free speech. But, continual denial of law, will end up in arrests. Actions have consequences https://t.co/MQTb2JYqA4
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) September 6, 2020
The harassment of people dining is similar to what happened at two restaurants in Rochester last week and to another incident in Washington, DC. The activists aren’t content to march and protest anymore, they want to confront strangers and scream at them. WTAE reports police in Pittsburgh are now looking into the incident. At a minimum, the person who hit the bike rider with his skateboard should be arrested and charged with assault.
Update: Hadn’t seen this one. It’s the same group of people and at some point they took their bullhorn show into a McDonalds. Bullhorn-guy in the pink shirt shouted at the manager, whose name is Ed, until he came out. Bullhorn guy tried shouting directly in his face with the bullhorn and Ed wasn’t having it. Ed pushed him back and it briefly turned into a scuffly.
Bullhorn guy then blocked the manager’s entrance to the back of the restaurant. There was a lot of shouting but the camera then turned away to focus on another woman screaming about being touched.
The clip ends with Ed the manager walking around to the far side and hopping over the counter while the woman in the “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” shirt harasses him some more. Needless to say, Ed would be running on a loop at CNN and MSNBC if he were white. This group can’t get away with as much when the person they are harassing is black.
The manager(Ed) @ this McD’s was upset that the protest was in front of the store. The crowd agreed to go in and give them a few hundred dollars worth of food orders. As they were giving the food to the protestors, the manager; started to get nasty with them @PghCurrent @WPXI pic.twitter.com/K3lwfF3ATc
— Ed Thompson (@ThompsonFoto12) September 6, 2020
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