Photo via @LauraJedeed/Twitter
December 21, 2020, 12:14 pm
Far-right protesters including members of Patriot Prayer and the violent Proud Boys were so upset about the government of Salem, Oregon having a legislative session that was closed to the public today that they brought their guns and scuffled with police.
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After many months of condemning anti-fascist and left-wing moms for doing something very similar in Portland, the group in Salem broke in and tried to occupy the Capitol building before being ejected by the cops, who they now feel are traitors.
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The entire incident has been live-tweeted by an undercover freelance journalist, Laura Jadeed, in what has become one of the top Twitter threads of the year.
The right-wing protesters, some heavily armed, almost immediately tried to enter the building and were met with police resistance a “great deal of mace,” but pushed through. The cops had to retreat into interior rooms as the protesters took the hallway.
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“Someone saw ‘a Chinese person’ in the window earlier,” wrote Jadeed. “The claim now is that the Chinese are inside the building, which is why they don’t want us inside.”
While this was going on, a woman with the protesters found an open window and started harassing the people inside. When two police officers tried to get her to stop, they were “chased off by screaming protesters” according to the Daily Beast.
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Meanwhile, inside the building, the right-wingers got up the courage to assault the interior doors and managed to get them open just before being hit with pepper balls. After a tense standoff that a fire alarm couldn’t solve, plus a lot “back the blue” folks regretting ever supporting the cops, the protest was declared an “unlawful assembly,” the protesters were “gently” ejected from the building.
Some of the most interesting details reported by Jadeed included the fact that the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer leaders, including all the men with big guns, voluntarily left the building before people were forced out. Apparently even holding firearms doesn’t make a person brave or able to stand up to what they think is tyranny.
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But mostly, the protest was stuffed to the brim with hypocrisy to the point that even the right-wingers seemed to notice.
“We are now declaring this area a patriot autonomous zone. If Antifa can do it so can we,” said one on a bullhorn. Another woman reportedly wanted to burn a “back the blue” flag, which caused some controversy among the protesters.
As of the publishing of this article, the protest was still ongoing, with cops surrounding the building and heavy, military-like police equipment threatening the remaining right-wingers. Otherwise, Jadeed has described the event as “boring” with a whole lot of “the same Mel Gibson dramatic patriotism speech over and over.”
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However, there is still a good chance that these protesters are about to find out who the police really serve and protect.
*First Published: December 21, 2020, 12:14 pm
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