Tag: violence

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Sen. Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton Respond To Violence At Cancelled Chicago Trump Rally

The two Democratic presidential contenders issued statements today in the aftermath of last night’s violence at a cancelled Donald Trump rally in Chicago.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement:

“As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar. Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump’s rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests.

“What caused the protests at Trump’s rally is a candidate that has promoted hatred and division against Latinos, Muslims, women, and people with disabilities, and his birther attacks against the legitimacy of President Obama.

“What caused the violence at Trump’s rally is a campaign whose words and actions have encouraged it on the part of his supporters. He recently said of a protester, ‘I want to punch him in the face.’ Another time Trump yearned for the old days when the protester would have been punched and “carried out on a stretcher.’ Then just a few days ago a female reporter apparently was assaulted by his campaign manager.

“When that is what the Trump campaign is doing, we should not be surprised that there is a response.

“What Donald Trump must do now is stop provoking violence and make it clear to his supporters that people who attend his rallies or protest should not be assaulted, should not be punched, should not be kicked. In America people have a right to attend a political rally without fear of physical harm.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this at an event in St. Louis today:

“The ugly, divisive rhetoric we are hearing from Donald Trump and the encouragement of violence and aggression is wrong, and it’s dangerous.

“If you play with matches, you’re going to start a fire you can’t control. That’s not leadership. That’s political arson.”

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Donald Trump: “The Audience Hit Back. That’s What We Need A Little More Of”

When asked about the arrest of one of his supporters for sucker-punching a protester on his way out of a rally, Donald Trump said, “The audience hit back. That’s what we need a little more of.”

Yep – his answer to the situation is that the protester, who was leaving without inciting any violence, got what he had coming to him.

Another reporter asked, “When you say things like, I want to punch a protester in the face… is it just politics or are you playing a character there?”

“Let me just tell you, we have had some violent people as protesters,” Trump responded. “They are not just people saying, ‘oh!’ These are people that punch, these are people that are violent people.”

Trump has attempted to portray the protesters, not his supporters, as violent. But no reporter covering his campaign says they’ve seen evidence of that. Quite the opposite. We’ve seen protesters raise their voices but not their fists, even as they are shoved and spit on as they exit Trump rallies.

The latest incident happened at Wednesdays’rally in Fayetteville, which was caught on camera from several angles. A white man identified as 78-year-old John McGraw approached a group of protesters and punched one, identified as Rakeem Jones, in the face.

Hope Hicks, the Trump campaign spokeswoman, called the violence unfortunate in an interview with the New York Times and said Trump’s campaign had “no control” over its supporters’ behavior.

(source)

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New York Daily News: “This Is Great?”

The cover of today’s New York Daily News.

Even though the attack by a Trump supporter was caught on video, and the Trumpster has encourage such attacks by saying he would pay the legal fees for anyone who “knocks the block off” any protesters, Trump’s campaign says they “are not involved” in the violent episode.

Read the Daily News story here.

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Trump Fan Who Punched Protester: “Next Time We See Him, We Might Have To Kill Him”

Update regarding the Donald Trump supporter who sucker-punched a protester at the Trumpster’s North Carolina rally:

The man charged with assault and battery for punching the protester, 78 year old John McGraw, says, “The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”

“You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth.

“We don’t know if he’s ISIS. We don’t know who he is, but we know he’s not acting like an American, cussing me. If he wants it laid out, I laid it out.”

“He deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist.”

As Right Wing Watch reminds us, The Donald has offered to pay the legal fees for supporters who punch protesters. We’ll see if he’s a man of his word now.

Watch the video below from Inside Edition:

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Finally! Trump Fan Charged For Assault At Rally

Many across the internet were outraged over a video of a Trump supporter sucker-punching a protester who was being escorted out of a Trump rally in North Carolina.

In the video, it appeared that the protester was nabbed by the police, but the actual attacker was not addressed nor held accountable for the violent attack.

That seems to have been rectified.

From The Daily Beast:

The 78-year-old pony-tailed assailant, identified as John McGraw, was charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct.

The protester, Rakeem Jones, 26, was being led out of the rally by sheriff’s officials when McGraw, who is seen on video wearing a cowboy hat, clearly reached out and punched him in the face. Jones was then detained and handcuffed by police.

At one point, someone in the crowd allegedly shouted: “Go home, n*ggers.” Local media reports that there were a total of 17 interruptions at the campaign event.

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Donald Trump Rally – “Light The Motherf*cker On Fire!”

Buzzfeed reporter McKay Coppins reported from a Donald Trump rally last night here in Las Vegas.

Along the way, a few protestors caused enough of a disruption they were carried out.

But what’s raising eyebrows this morning is what some of the Trump supporters yelled at the protestors.

In the video below, you can hear one supporter shouting, “Light the motherfucker on fire!”

This is the kind of rhetoric Trump inspires.

And then there was more. From MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin:

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Paris: Pianist Davide Martello Pulls Piano To Concert Hall, Plays John Lennon’s “Imagine”

Unidentified pianist pulls his piano to the concert hall Bataclan where he played a somber "Imagine" by John Lennon
(image via Twitter)

Today in Paris, musician Davide Martello pulled his piano via bike to right in front of The Bataclan, the concert hall where over 100 were murdered last night in terrorist attacks.

After situating himself, he quietly began playing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” When he finished, overwhelmed by emotion, he left without speaking or identifying himself.

(source)

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South Carolina: High School Student Arrested For Recording Officer’s Assault On Classmate Sitting At Desk

A high school student in Columbia, South Carolina, was arrested and held on $1,000 bond for filming a school officer physically abusing her classmate.

The high schooler was charged with – get this – “disturbing school.”

Via Raw Story:

Niya Kenny, 18, told WLTX she was shocked and disturbed when she saw Officer Ben Fields flipping her female classmate out of her desk and pinning her to the ground for refusing to leave class.

“I was screaming ‘What the f, what the f is this really happening?’ I was praying out loud for the girl,” Kenny told WLTX. “I just couldn’t believe this was happening I was just crying and he said, since you have so much to say you are coming too. I just put my hands behind my back.”

The video, posted Monday by New York Daily News writer Shaun King, shows Fields wrapping his arms around the neck of the pony-tailed girl. He then flips her desk over backwards and throws her onto the ground, saying “put your hands behind your back.”

Kenny said her classmate is only about 5’6″ and said she never saw anything like it before.

“A man used that much force on a little girl, a big man, like 300 pounds of full muscle,” Kenny told the station. “I was like no way, no way, you can’t do that to no little girl.”

According to The Grio, the officer (named Ben Fields) has a history of bias against African-American students.

One student in the room tweeted about the incident:

Some sources say the student who was thrown to the ground wouldn’t “put her phone away” when asked to by the teacher. Even if that’s the case, does that warrant this level of physical violence against a 5’6″ female high school student?

How about this – if the student wouldn’t leave, get another cop and the two could simply lift her desk and carry her out without assaulting the teenager.

And what justifies arresting the student who took the video? Other than the cop didn’t want his actions captured for the world to see?

Sheriff Leon Lott gave a press conference today denouncing Officer Fields’ actions.

Watch the officer flip the student’s desk over, wrestle her to the ground and then drag her. And the girl BEHIND the phone cam was the one causing a disturbance?

UPDATE: Sheriff Leon Lott gave a press conference today saying Deputy Fields was terminated based on his violating training and operational procedures.