While the U.S. Capitol remains on lockdown with the presence of more than 20,000 National Guard troops over the alleged threat of right-wing violence, actual left-wing violence shook the nation’s largest city once again on the evening of Monday, January 18.
According to the New York Post, “Police and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed outside City Hall Park on Monday night, resulting in dozens of arrests and several injured officers, authorities said.”
According to reports, the protest was formed in honor or Martin Luther King, Jr.
New York’s NBC News affiliate station WNBC said that the protest was underway by noon on Monday.
“Hundreds of protesters in different groups throughout the city began rallying as early as noon on Monday as a part of a Black Liberation March to commemorate the life and legacy of the Civil Rights leader,” the station reported. “The groups calling for racial and social justice peacefully marched from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to City Hall where they were met with a large group of NYPD officers.”
According to Gothamist, “At least 29 people were arrested and multiple protesters were hospitalized,” as a result of the violent protest.
Gothamist’s report on the protest seemed to place blame for the violence squarely on police.
“Demonstrators who had gathered at Barclays Center earlier in the night said they were immediately corralled by officers after emerging from the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge at around 8:30 p.m.,” Gothamist, a publication of New York Public Radio, reported. “Videos show NYPD officers pushing the group into City Hall Park and surrounding them, then charging into the crowd with batons to make arrests.”
Despite the assertion that the protestors were peaceful and unjustly corralled by police, as many as 10 officers were themselves hurt during the protest.
“A police spokesperson said 10 officers were injured at the protest, half of whom refused treatment,” Gothamist reported. “The other half were treated at the scene. The most serious injury was to a captain, who was struck in the helmet with a bottle, police said.”
Video posted to Twitter appeared to show police warning the crowd of protestors to disperse before making efforts to begin arrests. During the video, a message is heard warning protestors: “Since you have refused to leave the roadway, you will be placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct.” The message further warns that those who resist arrest may face additional charges. The message, at times, is difficult to hear over the shouts from protestors.
The restraint shown by police was remarkable given the recent history of violent left-wing protests around the nation and in New York City. In June 2020, Hawk Newsome, described by the New York Post as the “president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter,” warned that protestors might choose to turn to even more increased violence.
“If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right?” Newsome told Fox News. “And I could be speaking … figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation.”
As the drama associated with left-wing violence was unfolding in the Big Apple, across the country the mainstream media had been warning for days about the imminent threat of violence from Trump supporters. Not surprisingly, nothing of the sort prophesied by the media occurred.
In Philadelphia, for example, the local CBS News affiliate reported on Monday, January 18: “Law enforcement in major cities like Philadelphia and state capitols have been on heightened alert as the FBI received information about possible armed protests outside of the statehouses across the country this weekend.”
Despite the hyperventilation in the media, report after report indicated that there was no specific threat, and, indeed, none materialized over the weekend.
Example headlines noting that the FBI could not identify any specific threats included:
- In Arizona, KTAR news reported: “FBI says no ‘specific and substantiated’ threats to Arizona Capitol.”
- In Los Angeles, KTLA reported: “FBI Los Angeles: No known threats as officials ramp up safety efforts ahead of Inauguration Day.”
- In Boston, the Boston Herald reported: “Boston Police reopen streets around Massachusetts State House, FBI Boston says no ‘specific or substantiated threats of violence’”
- In Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reported: “FBI says no specific threat at Connecticut Capitol or government buildings.”
Warnings of right-wing violence never seemed particularly credible. After all, for all of 2020 it was those conservatives on the right who hosted signs in the yard saying “back the blue” and whose constant refrain was respect for law and order.
Are we now supposed to believe that this very large contingent of Americans is somehow an enemy that is poised to attack?
As the MLK protest in New York City demonstrated once again, as if further evidence is required after a year of leftist attacks on our cities, it is in fact left-wing radicals who seem most likely to turn to mass violence.
