This article contains news with liberal commentary.
Trump insists leftist radicals are behind violent protests, but “review of thousands of pages of court documents tells a different story,” the Associated Press reported on Friday, October 23, 2020. “Very few” of the protesters facing federal charges are affiliated with extremist groups, AP said. Many are young adults from the suburbs and first-time offenders. Read story here.
There has been violence: Police cars set afire, cops injured by projectiles, smashed windows and looted stores, arson fires. Those arrested have included both far-left and far-right protesters, some from out of state, but also criminals and opportunistic looters. But the racial justice demonstrations have been overwhelmingly peaceful, as I’ve previously pointed out here.
Trump, searching for an issue that will resonate with voters, has latched onto “law and order,” tried to portray the protests as lawless, and blame the violence on Democrats. “I know about antifa, and I know about the radical left, and I know how violent they are and how vicious they are, and I know how they are burning down cities run by Democrats,” Trump has claimed, without mentioning violent attacks against peaceful protesters by rightwing thugs or his own administration.
After poring over thousands of court documents, AP says it found only one mention of “antifa,” in a Boston case “in which authorities said a FBI Gang Task Force member was investigating ‘suspected ANTIFA activity associated with the protests’ when a man fired at him and other officers. Authorities have not claimed that the man accused of firing the shots is a member of antifa.”
Photo: Police sketch of Joe Biden dressed in drag coming for your suburb