Too bad they are thugs.
Right-wing extremist Alan Swinney was seen on video pointing a gun at someone during a violent brawl with counter protesters in downtown Portland on Aug. 22.
www.kgw.com
The men had been convicted of taking part in an attack on protesters outside the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan.
www.nytimes.com
Maxwell Hare, 27, and John Kinsman, 40, had been convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot in August.
www.nbcnews.com
Members of the far-right group had driven to Salem from a pro-Trump vehicle rally at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City.
www.newsweek.com
Disingenuous links.
The first two links are about the same two people arrested in, of all places, New York, who won't even arrest and try the violent Antifa who attacked the Proud Boys at their own rally - October 2018
Your third link, from Portland OR, a city who doesn't want police presence while Antifa and BLM burn the city down...is arrested for "According to an indictment filed Sept. 11, Swinney used mace and a paintball gun with an intent to injure others on Aug. 15 and Aug. 22. He also pointed a revolver at someone during the Aug. 22 clash downtown."
Thank God he isn't out looting, beating up people and burning crap down and destroying private/public property.
Your fourth link lead to ....nothing.
Thank God the Proud Boys you presented aren't thugs like Antifa or BLM.
You dug hard to find something horrible about the PB.
Keep digging until you find them acting like the Antifa or BLM thugs.
You can ignore the links if you wish, but the Proud Boys are thugs. These are just arrests. Macing people and hitting them with items with intent to injure is thuggery and no different than most of Antifa. Not sure WHY you defend them, when they are beating people up.
Also not sure why you say the 4th link leads to nothing - I just tried it, it's a Newsweek article and it worked for me. Here is another one on the same event:
Members of the far-right group the Proud Boys repeatedly rushed and attacked Black Lives Matter counter-protesters in Salem, Oregon on Labor Day. The Proud Boys had driven to Salem from a pro-Trump vehicle rally at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City on Monday afternoon, the Associated...
www.newsbreak.com
From it:
The Proud Boys had driven to Salem from a pro-Trump vehicle rally at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City on Monday afternoon, the Associated Press reported.
In Salem, they joined a crowd of several dozen Trump supporters outside the Oregon State Capitol and were met by a smaller group of Black Lives Matter counter-demonstrators.
Videos posted on social media showed the Proud Boys repeatedly bull rushing the Black Lives Matter group and attacking at least least two counter-demonstrators.
...One man was seen hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat and knocked to the ground after being rushed by a group of Proud Boys in a video posted on Twitter by Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos.
Sounds to me like t
hey were out beating up people doesn't it?
Regardless of what cities do or do not do, protesting and counter protesting is legal, as long as it doesn't spill over into violence and property destruction. The Proud Boys have no more right to attack counter protestors at their rallies then leftwing groups have to attack counter protestors at leftwing rallies. Also, you might take note that these assaulters WERE NOT arrested....
In the October 2018 rally in NYC...
Members of the far-right group known as the “Proud Boys” brawled with protesters after their leader held a rally at the vandalized Manhattan GOP headquarters on the Upper East Side, off…
www.nydailynews.com
In one incident, cops arrested three protesters accused of attacking a 30-year-old New Jersey man leaving the rally. During the brawl,
the protesters took his backpack, which contained his wallet, police said.
Finbarr Slonim, 20, and Caleb Perkins, 35, both of the Upper East Side, and Kai Russo, 20, of Brooklyn,
were charged with misdemeanor assault, larceny and harassment. They were released without bail after arraignment Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court.
In a more major incident at that rally,
the Proud Boys initiated a brawl - leading to arrests as well as convictions. One was heard proudly proclaiming he'd stomped the head in of a "foreigner".
There are also some interesting points in the article I just linked to:
The arrests fall a full week after video captured the NYPD standing by as Proud Boy members attacked protesters outside the Upper East Side’s Manhattan Republican Club, which invited the group’s leader Gavin McInnes to reenact the samurai sword assassination of a Japanese socialist.
After that event, video captured Proud Boys participating in violence, but the NYPD arrested only three anti-fascist protesters that night.
Even at your own rally,
you aren't allowed to initiate violence. And your claim that they did not arrest any of the counter protestors for the brawl is flat out wrong.
In addition, there have been a boatload of arrests of Antifa/leftwing individuals at demonstrations and riots. In the first 10 days of the George Floyd demonstrations/riots there were 10,000 arrested. A simple google search of "protests rallies demonstrations" will show you that yes, they do get arrested.
Proud Boys intermix with and have members belonging to multiple groups tied together with a far right ideology usually mixing racism, anti-immigrant views, anti-semitism, anti-muslim, and in the Proud Boys specifically, misogyny. While they have every right to protest - and counter protest (just like Antifa) - per the Constitution, they do not have the right to assault people or destroy property (neither does Antifa). So stop making excuses for them.
When they attend rallies, the come prepared for violence - not the definition of peaceful protestors. Just 5 days ago, a Proud Boy was arrested for
assaulting a man who was simply filming. At least police seem better able or more willing to preventively handle it,
as per this rally.
Meanwhile, we have Republicans
openly endorsing Proud Boys, something that OUGHT to be very disturbing to most people. I can't recall Democrats openly endorsing or thanking Antifa, even if some seem weak on denouncing them.
Thugs are thugs. I don't care what armband they wear. Most of these people are simply using protests as an excuse to let out their inner vandal.
