Likes: 
Violence, conversation breaks out at Back the Blue rally
Starts at the 22:00 mark.
A pro-police rally outside the Fort Collins Police Services building on Timberline Road turned into an event that featured both violent altercations and productive conversations.
The Back the Blue rally Saturday afternoon featured protesters spread out along Timberline Road in front of the FCPS building, waving United States and “Thin Blue Line” flags and holding signs that read “Defend the Police.”
“We have to defend the police and the role that they play in society for keeping law and order and keeping citizens safe,” said Sonya Beeson, a Back the Blue protester.
Protesters were met with two different groups of counterprotesters on the other side of Nancy Grey Avenue. According to multiple protesters at the scene, some counterprotesters were affiliated with a Black Lives Matter rally that took place earlier in the afternoon at Colorado State University. Other counterprotesters dressed in all black had an unclear affiliation, though some protesters referred to them as antifa.
Based on video footage of these events obtained by The Collegian, it appears that it was at this time that physical altercations broke out between protesters and the second set of counterprotesters.
Ciara Wilson, a local high school student and organizer with the Fort Collins People’s Initiative for Equity, said that when she arrived at the protest, the atmosphere was already very hostile and quickly worsened.
“I think it’s quite disgusting,” said Brian Loma, founder of the Denver-based Cut the Plastic. “I value that these people want to have a rally and they want to hold the line, but what I saw was women and as well as some gentlemen being forced, pushed, not only off the sidewalk into the street and then basically chased for two blocks into a trail.”
https://collegian.com/2020/08/catego...he-blue-rally/
Reply With Quote
