"Pro-Trump Gang Seen In Footage Assaulting Anti-Fascist Protesters In Manhattan"
At the moment this is the lead story on Huffpost. I just read it moments ago and my heart is still pounding:
NEW YORK — Minutes after an event at a Manhattan Republican club meant to celebrate violence against leftists, attendees belonging to a proto-fascist, pro-Trump street gang reportedly pummeled three people on the sidewalk in Manhattan’s Upper East Side while shouting homophobic slurs.
Footage posted online by video journalist Sandi Bachom shows a group of men who appear to be Proud Boys — a misogynistic and anti-Muslim fraternity known for committing acts of political violence across the country — kicking and punching three apparent anti-fascist protesters as they lay prone on the sidewalk.
“Do you feel brave now, faggot?” one of the attackers yelled, according to Bachom and another journalist, photographer Shay Horse. Another video shows multiple attackers yelling “faggot.”
The violence occurred just minutes after roughly 30 apparent Proud Boys exited the Metropolitan Republican Club, the GOP’s headquarters in New York City, where Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes had been invited to give a speech. [My emhasis.]
McInnes billed the event as an anniversary celebration to lionize a Japanese ultranationalist who assassinated the head of the Japanese Socialist Party with a sword on Oct. 12, 1960.
McInnes wrote on Instagram this week that he would be “re-enacting this inspiring moment at the Metropolitan Club.”
This took place on East 82nd Street on Manhattan’s upper east side. I live just a few blocks northeast on East 88th. Had I been out and about last night I might’ve stumbled right into the middle of this atrocity.
The Manhattan Republicans knowingly invited an open fascist to address them. (The name “Proud Boys” alone reeks of fascistic violence.) Meanwhile, the current Fox News & co. party line is liberal protestors are a violent, paid-off mob and Democrats aren’t the opposition party, they’re outright “evil.”
I thought living in liberal Manhattan would shelter me, distance me from this kind of violence. I was wrong; as long as the current dominant political party and its media flunkies embrace fascist hoodlums, no one in the US is safe.
UPDATE:
I lost track of it, but one of the stories online about this event included the Club’s description of the event, along with their Email address, mail@metclubnyc.org. I just wrote and sent them the following Email: (UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: For some reason all the separate paragraphs in my Email ran together. In the interest of clarity I’ve added some [bracketed information] as to who said what.)
Shame on You [Email subject line]
[Quote from the club’s announcement:]
"Banned from Twitter - this Godfather of the Hipster Movement has taken on and exposed the Deep State Socalists and Stood up for Western Values. Join us for an unforgettable evening with one of Liberty's Loudest Voices."
[From the article about the riot:]
"Asked prior to the event whether the Metropolitan Club had any misgivings about providing a platform to someone like McInnes, board chairman Ian Reilly told Gothamist, "He is part of the right. We promote people and ideas of all kinds from the right. We're open to different views. We would never invite anyone who would incite violence."
McInnes billed the event as an anniversary celebration to lionize a Japanese ultranationalist who assassinated the head of the Japanese Socialist Party with a sword on Oct. 12, 1960.
McInnes wrote on Instagram this week that he would be “re-enacting this inspiring moment at the Metropolitan Club.”
[Here’s what the Miscweant had to say:]
Yes, McInnes is definitely part of the right. If this is the kind of people the Republican Party knowingly chooses to associate itself with in 2018, your party is an insult to basic human decency.
It would've taken 5 seconds of internet research to find out exactly what kind of person McInnes actually is, what he advocates and what he stands for. You're either willfully blind or a dissembling hypocrite. In either case you owe all of New York City an apology for bringing fascistic violence to our streets. (I live a few blocks from your headquarters, which makes this event all the more repulsive to me.)