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August 09, 2020 09:25 AM UTC

"Back The Blue" Attacks Black Lives Matter In Fort Collins

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Trigger warning: this video depicts another violent attack in Colorado on Black Lives Matter protesters.

UPDATE #2: The Denver Post’s Shelly Bradbury confirms three arrests and one citation issued by police:

A video livestreamed on the Facebook page for a far-right Colorado podcast shows members of the pro-law enforcement crowd walking toward counter protesters in a neighborhood a few blocks away from the main rally at the police station.

The man who livestreamed the video described the police supporters’ actions as “marching” the counter-protesters out of the area. The pro-police demonstrators outnumbered the counter-protesters…

In the video, Fort Collins police officers arrive after about two minutes, when the majority of the violence has ended. The officers are seen putting at least one person in handcuffs.

[FCPD Detective Erin] Feit said the people arrested and cited were aligned with both the pro-police group and the counter-protesters. [Pols emphasis] She did not have the names of those arrested or their charges available but said that information should be released Sunday afternoon.

It’s reassuring to hear that some of the people administering the beatings may be prosecuted in addition to, you know, the victims. We’ll continue to update as more information is released.

—–

UPDATE: Video from the immediate aftermath of the violence appears to show Fort Collins Police arresting some of the Black Lives Matter protesters–right after those protesters were assaulted in a ditch by a large contingent of white men participating in a “Back The Blue” rally outside FCPD headquarters:

Watch the video of the attack below, then watch this clip of the same protesters you just watched being savagely beaten in a ditch get arrested while the men who administered the beating taunt them.

And then ask yourself how the hell this is happening in our state.

—–

This is video we were forwarded from several social media sources of an attack yesterday afternoon on a group of protesters in Fort Collins, as competing Black Lives Matter and “Back The Blue” rallies took place at different locations in the city. The violent assault on a group of protesters you can see in the video above reportedly took place just a few blocks from Fort Collins Police Department headquarters, after the BLM protesters were forced back into what looks like an area of open space, pushed down into a ditch of some kind, and beaten by a crew of very large white men–the ones wearing shirts sporting pro-Donald Trump and pro-police attire.

About 20 seconds into the video, just before the assault, local fascist “Proud Boy” leader Louie Huey tells the camera that he is there to “march these commie Antifa bastards out of the neighborhood.” It’s the first we’ve seen of Louie Huey since he showed off his rubber bullet wounds after a night of provocateur violence he participated in early in the George Floyd protests.

There has been very little press coverage of this incident so far, but we expect that to change once this horrific video gets out into the wild. The violence in this clip is much more severe and more prolonged than similarly shocking video out of rural Teller County a few weeks ago showing right-wing protesters attacking a “car caravan” protest. There can be no question from what we’ve seen of who the aggressors were. Despite this, the unconfirmed report we have from yesterday is that just like in Teller County, none of the pro-police protesters you can see assaulting people in this video were arrested.

It’s another outburst of violence for which we’ll be watching to see justice, but not holding our breath. In the meantime, next time somebody tells you how appalled they are by broken windows and graffiti at the Capitol, you have something they need to see.

It’s getting ugly out there, folks.

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24 thoughts on ““Back The Blue” Attacks Black Lives Matter In Fort Collins”

  1. Let's take a moment to remember that our buddy Moderatus recently wrote that thugs like this have a "right" to beat the shit out of peaceful protesters.

  2. The chicken shit asshole literally try to impale someone he disagrees with with an American flag is the most accurate representation of tRump and his followers that I have seen – since "keep your government hands off my Medicare." Someone needs to meme that immediately. 

  3. The admittedly sketchy Westword account of this incident says “no arrests took place.”.  What is pols’ source for the claim blm were arrested? 

    While video shows violent attacks it does not show police misconduct.  The cops may have saved the victims and rendered them medical aid.  

    Update: the Daily wire, a far right blatherskite source, claims there were many arrests. I’d believe Westword over them but surely by now thiscsimplecfact could be ascertained?

    Yeah, it proves proud boys are violent thugs, what a surprise.

    But if Westword is right that no blm people were arrested, then pols claim of police misconduct is wrong.  Police appear to have broken up fights.  But the videos don’t prove who started them.  It’s a fair guess the fascists did, but that isn’t evidence in court.  

    The Ft Collins police probably feel proud that no one was killed or badly injured in this attack.  Further investigation can allow charges to be filed.

     

    1. From the Rocky Mountain Collegian:

      FCPS Public Relations Manager Kate Kimble wrote in an email to The Collegian that the “physical disturbances” outside the station resulted in three arrests and one citation. 

      The Larimer County booking report shows two arrests made by officer Christopher Young and one arrest made by officer Jason Haferman. All three people arrested were charged with disorderly conduct, one person with an additional charge of possession of an illegal weapon and one with an additional charge of resisting arrest.

      “We respect everyone’s right to peacefully assemble to voice their concerns,” Kimble wrote. “For the safety of our community, acts of violence, destruction of property and other unlawful behavior will not be tolerated.”

      1. We need to be complaining loudly to whatever boards or officials these police departments are accountable to. If any readers know whom to call or which organizations are working on this, please comment here.

        In Fort Collins, Aurora, Denver – thugs and right wing lowlife are being given the wink-wink-nod-nod by cops to go after BLM protesters.

        This incident in Fort Collins. The Aurora PD still to this day are "investigating", with no criminal charges filed against the driver of a jeep that drove at speed into a crowd of protesters on 225. Denver PD pushed a school board member to the ground when they cleared the tent city in front of the Capitol.

        It goes on. So far, Jeffco police have been appropriate and maintained a distance while we stood for Black Lives Matter in Jeffco.But if someone drove into us, or otherwise attacked, would we be the ones facing criminal charges, while the perps drove or walked away? It seems likely.

        1. Thanks fr this and the other updates.  But the statement doesn’t identify who the arrestees were.  The “illegal weapon” charge was very probably a fascist thug, though the Aurora case involved a leftie blazing away.  

          It looks like Fort Collins police at least tried to be fair while controlling a potentially lethal situation.

          By the way, real cops don’t want the “support ” of violent goons.

          1. "…..involved a leftie blazing away……" I'm interested in seeing your confirmation of that (leftie); i.e., source. I don't recall seeing anything substantive that the shooter was anything more than a "protestor." Is it actually known that he was a legitimate BLM protestor, or just an infiltrator?

            1. Define a "legitimate" protester, CHB.  Is there some sort of certification board?

              He was marching with the protesters and tried to kill the Jeep driver, wounding two other protesters in the process.  

              1. An actual protestor vs. someone from the far right who has infiltrated to cause trouble.

                Bear in mind that another guy, who was interviewed, banged up his truck trying to protect protestors from the jeep driver.

                “tried to kill the jeep driver…..” And the jeep driver was not trying to kill people? Sorry, but I don’t buy his argument that he got “scared.”

            2. I was about to lay some snark down, and observe that, were the clumsy shooter a rightie, he would most likely not have shot up his own crowd.  Then my brain went down a rabbit hole.  If the shooter was a right wing provocateur, then he most likely did not miss.

              We are living through some awful times.

        2. Uhh, flightless bird, what part of the Constitution says that only left-wingers have the right to free speech and assembly?  Is that part of the Second Amendment?

          2. If you want a reply from me, use “kwtree”. I’m not going to respond to your Trumpian attempts to belittle with stupid nicknames. 
            Sigh. That will happen on the day when V admits a police officer was wrong…..about anything.
             

            Where in the Constitution are battery and assault considered free speech?

            1. "I'm not going to respond to your Trumpian attempts to belittle with stupid nicknames….."

              Does that mean you won't be referring to Repeal and Replace as "Rinse and Repeat?" 

          3. We're into Brandenburg v. Ohio territory, when armed "counterprotestors" show up not to peaceably assemble but to incite imminent lawless action, which is not protected speech.  

      1. I found Westword’s preliminary account with a “Fort Collins protest” goggle.  Obviously, it was superceded by later reporting, after the Collegian offered a solid account, which Westword credits.

        But even though we know the names of those charged, we still don’t know which were BLM types and which were anti-antifa goons.  Supposedly there were some from both sides.  But with just four names, obviously most attackers got away with it.

         

        Anyone know the affiliations of the four charged people?

  4. Local coverage from the site of theRocky Mountain Student Media “an independent, non-profit organization located in the Lory Student Center on the Colorado State University Campus”

    Violence, conversation breaks out at Back the Blue rally


    The Back the Blue rally Saturday afternoon featured protesters spread out along Timberline Road in front of the FCPS building, …

    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…

    “Once they get all the way down the street from the police station, it just goes into an all-out brawl in the middle of a grassy pit,” Wilson said. “10 to 15 people just piled up on top of each other. Chokeholds, batons, punched in the face all of it, and there were no police.”….

    After the arrests, the violent altercations stopped and many groups of Back the Blue protesters could be seen having conversations with Black Lives Matter counterprotesters. 

    Different video on that site, too.

  5. I don't have anything to contribute on this event, other than this quote from the Coloradoan:

    “We respect everyone's right to peacefully assemble. Our officers have consistently supported these rights in recent months as people have gathered to make their voices heard. For the safety of our community, acts of violence and other unlawful behavior have not and will not be tolerated from anyone,” FCPS Chief Jeff Swoboda said in a written release. “Truly supporting a cause means representing its values. Committing crimes in our community is not a way to support police. We stand for safety, period. We want all of our community members to feel safe here in Fort Collins and we reject any form of hate.”

    I will note that there have been occasional protests at that location by anti police brutality demonstrators. The Ft Collins police have courteously engaged with the protestors in the past.

    I know that there are extreme right-wingers in Larimer County. Most of them are your generic right-wing gun nuts (North Larimer County seems to be some kind of a dystopian white hell-hole), but if you recall the Boogaloo boy from Loveland is from another level.

     

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