On California’s idyllic Pacific Beach, where I have often taken my boogie board to ride the waves, supporters of President Donald Trump staged a rally this weekend.
They were met by members of the anarchist group Antifa, and as the following video shows, the Trump supporters were attacked with pepper spray.
Here is how the local press chose to report the event:
Counter-protesters clashed violently with supporters of President Donald Trump at a rally in Pacific Beach Saturday, and police ordered people to leave the area as they tried to maintain order.The event, described in flyers as a “Patriot March,” took place along Ocean Front Walk and began early Saturday afternoon. A group of counter-demonstrators — some from anti-fascist groups, clad in all black and holding sticks or bats — showed up to face off with the pro-Trump group, and at times the tense exchanges turned violent.
Note that there is no hint that Antifa, the group that has caused chaos and millions of dollars worth of destruction throughout the country, attacked these pro-Trump demonstrators.
The pro-Trump demonstrators continued, despite the spray:
The protest, which is at Hornblend Street and Mission Boulevard, has prompted SDPD to ask residents to stay away from the area. Officials said “those who remain or return against this lawful order may be cited/arrested and risk exposure to chemical agents & less-lethal force applications.”Aerial video showed a line of SDPD officers trying to disperse the demonstrators around 3 p.m. Officers were struck with a glass bottle, eggs and rocks, and pepper-spray was shot at them as well, according to San Diego police.Dozens of patrol cars are parked nearby, and officers in riot gear have formed two lines on Mission Boulevard to separate the two groups, which are now spaced several hundred feet apart. A fire truck and ambulance have also been spotted not far away. The situation is taking place just blocks from the beach, and there are many spectators in the area as well, some of them biking and skateboardng by the unfolding events.At 3:30 p.m., the situation had the appearance of a standoff, with the two sides rallying in place, with several Trump supporters waving Trump banners. By 5 p.m., SDPD said both groups had seperated and said they would continue to monitor.
The presidency isn’t the only subject of protests in California. Sacramento was the center of a demonstration against the pandemic lockdown, as both the rationale and the consequences of such restrictions are now being questioned.
A small group of lawmakers and demonstrators gathered at the Capitol steps on Saturday to demand that the governor reopen the state after months of COVID-19 health restrictions….”We are 70% mom and pop shops,” said San Joaquin Supervisor Tom Patti. “When you shut them down, you are shutting down revenue sources for us.”San Joaquin County is experiencing a severe surge in COVID-19 cases, with 0% ICU bed capacity. KCRA 3 asked Supervisor Patti whether reopening really was the best plan moving forward.”With all the contact tracing, thousands of hours, thousands of calls, not one case was traced back to a hair salon,” Patti said. “Not every single thing can open. Maybe nightclub and bars might not work…we can’t do everything for everybody, but what we can do, we should.”
If California is a leading indicator for the rest of the nation, that brace yourselves for a very bumpy 2021 . . . and one in which we can trust the American press even less than in 2020.
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