Photo via @BGOnTheScene/Twitter
October 5, 2021, 1:20 pm
A couple of anti-vaxxers assaulted a mobile sidewalk COVID-19 testing site Monday as their protest group marched by, with the rest of the crowd cheering them on as they flipped over chairs and then the entire tent, nearly hitting some children who were brought along by the mob.
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Video footage was obtained of the incident showing befuddled and probably exhausted healthcare workers looking on as their non-vaccine testing site was attacked by a handful of men while a woman with a bullhorn called them (the healthcare workers, not the anti-vaxxer dudes) evil.
The video, caught by independent reporter Brendan Gutenschwager, starts with a fun little dance by a healthcare worker before he retreats inside the van, likely predicting what’s coming next, and by the end, you might want to flip something over yourself.
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The march was organized in response to a city-wide vaccine mandate for educators, which in itself was in response to the entirely predictable spike in COVID-19 cases associated with sending kids back to in-person schools, known by everyone to be giant Petri dishes full of small people who don’t understand how germs work. The mandate went into effect on Monday, and on the same day, anti-vaxxers gathered to chant things like “we the people will not comply” and “wake up, New York,” yell at restaurant patrons, and apparently, to attack anything the city is trying to do to limit the spread of the virus.
No explanation has been given for the assault on the testing site, which seems odd considering the fact that anti-vaxxers often tout frequent testing as a viable alternative to getting vaccinated even though it’s not. One of the biggest issues that this very loud minority has with the New York mandate is that testing was not offered as an alternative for city educators, the reason being that false negatives are common and people can easily catch and spread the virus in between weekly tests.
Regardless, after booing the COVID testing site and with two small children standing right next to the tent, a small group of men, one wrapped in a U.S. flag, flip over the site’s table and chairs as the flag guy punches the van’s side mirrors. The attack goes on for more than 15 seconds before police finally intervene, shooing away the protesters while one of the healthcare workers stands there in a shrugging pose, a bit reminiscent of Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind.
Other videos of the protest show New York firefighters and police fist-bumping and clapping for the anti-vaxxers in clear shows of support, which may explain why the men who attacked the testing site were allowed to walk away without even a talking-to.
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A fair number of commenters have already pointed out the stark disparities in the ways that these anti-vaxxer protesters, as well as pretty much every right-wing protest ever, is treated by the police compared to how they handle Black Lives Matter marches and other actions considered to be left-wing. And also Black people existing.
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it’s the trump Jan 6th people of course they let it rock …
— The Cap Stat King
Rabbi (@minkoff_steven) October 4, 2021
*First Published: October 5, 2021, 1:20 pm
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