Fears of violence against pro-choice protests intensify amid wave of attacks
Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple states
Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple states
New York police clear people protesting against the supreme court’s Roe v Wade decision from the street.
Photograph: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters
Erum Salam
Erum Salam
Tue 28 Jun 2022
Fears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.
‘A matter of life and death’: maternal mortality rate will rise without Roe, experts warn
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers.
Law enforcement cracked down on protests in multiple states, wielding batons and forcibly removing protesters from public spaces and firing teargas in Arizona.
Over two dozen pro-choice activists were arrested in New York City as protests took place in Washington Square Park, Union Square and in front of the NewsCorp building in midtown, home to Fox News studios.
Fears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.
‘A matter of life and death’: maternal mortality rate will rise without Roe, experts warn
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers.
Law enforcement cracked down on protests in multiple states, wielding batons and forcibly removing protesters from public spaces and firing teargas in Arizona.
Over two dozen pro-choice activists were arrested in New York City as protests took place in Washington Square Park, Union Square and in front of the NewsCorp building in midtown, home to Fox News studios.
Pro-choice supporters hold signs at a rally outside the South Carolina statehouse. Photograph: Meg Kinnard/AP
In Arizona, police fired rounds of teargas into protesters from inside the state Capitol building. Police later issued a statement saying they were concerned protesters would gain access to the building.
In Greenville, South Carolina, six protesters were arrested following a clash with police that left some injured. In one video widely circulated on social media, a police officer is seen threatening a woman with a Taser and throwing an elderly man to the ground.
Allen Chaney, a spokesperson for South Carolina’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Guardian: “The ACLU of South Carolina strongly condemns violence against peaceful protesters. It should be the case that you can show up and peacefully protest in this country without fear of violence or wrongful arrest.”
In Arizona, police fired rounds of teargas into protesters from inside the state Capitol building. Police later issued a statement saying they were concerned protesters would gain access to the building.
In Greenville, South Carolina, six protesters were arrested following a clash with police that left some injured. In one video widely circulated on social media, a police officer is seen threatening a woman with a Taser and throwing an elderly man to the ground.
Allen Chaney, a spokesperson for South Carolina’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Guardian: “The ACLU of South Carolina strongly condemns violence against peaceful protesters. It should be the case that you can show up and peacefully protest in this country without fear of violence or wrongful arrest.”
Protesters get ready to march to the governor’s mansion in Des Moines, Iowa. Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP
Meanwhile, a pickup truck ploughed through protesters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hospitalizing one woman. The Cedar Rapids police department declined to comment on the incident. The state recently passed a law making it legal for drivers to hit protesters with vehicles in certain circumstances. Other states in the US have passed similar laws.
In Los Angeles, California, the Full House actor Jodie Sweetin was surrounded by police officers and pushed to the ground in front of fellow pro-choice protesters.
In a statement following the event, Sweetin said: “Our activism will continue until our voices are heard and action is taken. This will not deter us, we will continue fighting for our rights. We are not free until ALL of us are free.”
Journalists reporting in Los Angeles were also involved in violent incidents at the hands of police. Reporter Tina Desiree Berg was grabbed by a police officer, despite wearing a press badge around her neck. Samuel Braslow, another reporter for the Beverly Hills Courier, was also filmed being pushed by police.
Meanwhile, a pickup truck ploughed through protesters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hospitalizing one woman. The Cedar Rapids police department declined to comment on the incident. The state recently passed a law making it legal for drivers to hit protesters with vehicles in certain circumstances. Other states in the US have passed similar laws.
In Los Angeles, California, the Full House actor Jodie Sweetin was surrounded by police officers and pushed to the ground in front of fellow pro-choice protesters.
In a statement following the event, Sweetin said: “Our activism will continue until our voices are heard and action is taken. This will not deter us, we will continue fighting for our rights. We are not free until ALL of us are free.”
Journalists reporting in Los Angeles were also involved in violent incidents at the hands of police. Reporter Tina Desiree Berg was grabbed by a police officer, despite wearing a press badge around her neck. Samuel Braslow, another reporter for the Beverly Hills Courier, was also filmed being pushed by police.
Police hold a pro-choice demonstrator to the ground in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Vishal P Sing/Reuters
The Los Angeles police department issued a statement to the Guardian: “The LAPD is aware of the video clip of a woman being pushed. The force used will be evaluated against the LAPD’s policy and procedure.
“As the nation continues to wrestle with the latest supreme court decision, the Los Angeles police department will continue to facilitate First Amendment rights, while protecting life and property.”
In response to the arrests, private companies such as Live Nation Entertainment and the clothing retailer Patagonia offered to bail their employees out of jail, if arrested while peacefully protesting.
The company issued a statement that said: “Patagonia supports choice.”
“Caring for employees extends beyond basic health insurance, so we take a more holistic approach to coverage and support overall wellness to which every human has a right.”
The Los Angeles police department issued a statement to the Guardian: “The LAPD is aware of the video clip of a woman being pushed. The force used will be evaluated against the LAPD’s policy and procedure.
“As the nation continues to wrestle with the latest supreme court decision, the Los Angeles police department will continue to facilitate First Amendment rights, while protecting life and property.”
In response to the arrests, private companies such as Live Nation Entertainment and the clothing retailer Patagonia offered to bail their employees out of jail, if arrested while peacefully protesting.
The company issued a statement that said: “Patagonia supports choice.”
“Caring for employees extends beyond basic health insurance, so we take a more holistic approach to coverage and support overall wellness to which every human has a right.”
Right claimed to fear pro-choice "rage" after SCOTUS decision — but so far the violence is directed at protesters
By KATHRYN JOYCE
PUBLISHED JUNE 28, 2022 6:00AM (EDT)
NYPD officers arrest several abortion rights activist after they blocked traffic while protesting the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade by the US Supreme Court, in New York, on June 24, 2022.
(ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images)
Before the Supreme Court even announced its decision overturning Roe v. Wade last Friday, right-wing politicians and media had begun warning of a wave of violent demonstrations or riots by pro-choice protesters. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., called on "all patriots" to defend local churches and crisis pregnancy centers, while Fox News hyped warnings about a "night" or "summer of rage" and various far-right activists — from the America First/groyper movement to the Proud Boys to a staffer for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake — issued threats against leftists they claimed were about to become violent.
But it appears that most of the violence that occurred in response to the Roe decision this past weekend was directed at pro-choice demonstrators, not caused by them.
Before the Supreme Court even announced its decision overturning Roe v. Wade last Friday, right-wing politicians and media had begun warning of a wave of violent demonstrations or riots by pro-choice protesters. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., called on "all patriots" to defend local churches and crisis pregnancy centers, while Fox News hyped warnings about a "night" or "summer of rage" and various far-right activists — from the America First/groyper movement to the Proud Boys to a staffer for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake — issued threats against leftists they claimed were about to become violent.
But it appears that most of the violence that occurred in response to the Roe decision this past weekend was directed at pro-choice demonstrators, not caused by them.
On Friday night, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a man drove his pickup truck into a group of women protesters, hitting several and driving over the ankle of one woman. Iowa journalist Lyz Lenz, who was covering the protest, noted on Twitter that the attack came at the end of a peaceful event, as demonstrators were crossing the road at a crosswalk while the man had a red light. "The truck drove around other cars in order to hit protesters," Lenz wrote, adding that the driver "was screaming" while a woman in the truck with him begged him to stop.
As Andy Campbell and Alanna Vagianos reported at HuffPost, a number of other protesters ran after the truck, trying to stop it, but the driver continued on, knocking over several people. The woman whose ankle was run over was sent to the hospital. As of Saturday, the man had not been charged with any crime.
RELATED: Amid all the gloating, anti-abortion right dreams of bigger wins — and possible violence
That same night, at a pro-choice protest in Providence, Rhode Island, an off-duty police officer named Jeann Lugo — who, until this weekend, was a Republican candidate for state Senate — punched his Democratic opponent, reproductive rights organizer Jennifer Rourke, in the face.
Providence police arrested Lugo and charged him with assault and disorderly conduct, placing him on administrative leave. On Saturday, Lugo dropped out of the Senate race and announced he would not be seeking any political office before apparently deactivating his Twitter account.
In Atlanta, photographer Matthew Pearson documented a group of more than a dozen Proud Boys coming to counterprotest a pro-choice demonstration, while an Atlanta antifascist group posted photos of the group boarding a Humvee painted with the Proud Boys' logo.
In several other states, police responded to demonstrations against the SCOTUS ruling with heavy-handed tactics and violence.
In Greenville, South Carolina, multiple videos seemed to show police arresting and dragging pro-choice protesters away, as others in the crowd screamed at them to stop. In one video, a young woman is violently shoved backward into the street, where she falls and appears to hit her head. When an older woman comes over, apparently to help her, she is also put in handcuffs and taken away.
In a statement, the Greenville Police Department said it was conducting an internal review of the incident.
At the Arizona state capitol in Phoenix, police shot tear gas canisters into a crowd of protesters on Friday night, allegedly without warning, after some protesters began banging on the windows of the building, and, a video taken from inside the capitol indicates, one person kicked a glass door several times.
Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, who has called for hanging "traitors" who refused to overturn the election, declared a protest that resulted in no arrests or injuries the "#J24 Arizona Capitol Insurrection."
Republican lawmakers claimed in a statement that "extremist demonstrators" had tried to "make entry by breaking windows and pushing down doors" and described themselves as having faced a "hostage" situation and an "insurrection" meant to overthrow the state's government, although there were no arrests, injuries or broken glass. State Sen. Wendy Rogers — who called for building gallows and hanging "traitors who betrayed our country" during a speech to the white nationalist America First movement this February — declared the protest the "#J24 Arizona Capitol Insurrection," and, along with her GOP colleagues, called for more arrests. At HuffPost, Sebastian Murdock reports that after the protesters dispersed and moved to a park downtown, they were tear-gassed again. According to AZ Central, at a subsequent protest on Saturday, numerous legal observers were handcuffed and detained, one for around two hours.
In Los Angeles, videos show numerous violent confrontations between police and both protesters and the press. In one video, taken by photographer Michael Ade, LAPD officers are seen pushing protesters to the ground and striking at least one with a baton after the group tried to occupy or shut down the 101 freeway. In another video taken by Ade, which subsequently went viral, police shove former "Full House" actor Jodie Sweetin backward off a highway embankment — where, Ade tweeted, Sweetin was trying to lead protesters away from the road — and sent her sprawling to the pavement.
In downtown L.A., video by documentarian Vishal Singh depicts a woman protester shoved backward onto the ground and shot in the stomach with a riot gun projectile. In another video, police appear to beat a man who is being arrested, banging his head against a concrete curb before dragging him away while other protesters yell that the man is having a seizure.
Although the man has since been charged with attempted murder — for allegedly using an aerosol can as a makeshift flamethrower against an officer — Singh said, "It was one of the most brutal arrests I've ever seen, if not the most brutal."
When local journalist Tina Desiree Berg, who was wearing press credentials and took extensive footage of the protests throughout the weekend, tried to get a better angle of the man being arrested, one police officer punched her in the head before another shoved her to the ground, later telling her on video, "We're trying to protect you."
"If he had just walked over and said, 'Can you move over a foot,' I would have complied," said Berg in an interview with Salon. "I don't think this protest would have escalated to any violence if the protesters had just been left alone."
Berg, it turns out, was far from the only journalist hit or manhandled by LAPD officers last weekend, and, as Los Angeles Times journalist Kevin Rector writes, LAPD officers on Saturday repeatedly violated protections for journalists covering protests that were recently expanded by both state law and LAPD policy. Singh himself turned around at one point to find an LAPD officer pointing a riot gun, which fires lead beanbag rounds, at his head from just a few feet away. And a video from Beverly Hills Courier journalist Samuel Braslow shows a national legal observer being shoved to the ground by an officer.
Southern California right-wing extremists "will take any excuse to get in the streets and fight with 'antifa.' But these guys view anybody as 'antifa.'"
Singh also noted that a far-right activist associated with the white supremacist Rise Above Movement, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as "a Southern California-based racist fight club," posted a message on Telegram claiming that an allied "nationalist" had infiltrated the pro-choice protest. On Monday afternoon, the same activist published a video clip, taken from a short distance, of Singh standing at the protest, with the caption, "Hi Vishal."
Already over the last three days, right-wing groups in the area have threatened to counterprotest pro-choice demonstrations, and Singh said he's seen several people from those circles at protests over the weekend, including a man who assaulted him at an anti-vaccination rally last year.
"Typically [that man] shows up at right-wing or Proud Boys protests," said Singh. "But at every one of the protests over the last few days, he was following [protesters] around."
Berg notes that clashes between far-right extremists and counterprotesters have become a regular occurrence in Southern California. "These events are monthly at this point," she said. "This group is incredibly radicalized. They are very homophobic, very misogynistic, incredibly racist. They want white nationalism and the hood is off. So they'll take any excuse to get in the streets and fight with 'antifa.' But people should understand: these guys view everybody as 'antifa.' We've seen them call LAPD officers 'antifa.'"
However ludicrous that might seem, she continued, "They also really believe they are on a mission that is morally correct and that they're the good guys. When you view it through that lens, it's easy to see how things have become so violent in the way that they have. And I think it's going to get worse."
While conservative media and politicians have raised the issue of vandalism or violence against crisis pregnancy centers since the draft SCOTUS opinion was leaked in May, successfully calling for an FBI investigation, a new report released Friday by the National Abortion Federation noted a sharp increase in incidents of vandalism, assault and battery and hoax bomb threats against actual abortion clinics in 2021, including a 200% increase in reports of stalking clinic staff.
Read more on America after the fall of Roe v. Wade:
AOC unleashes anti-Republican Twitter blitz after Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
KATHRYN JOYCE is an investigative reporter at Salon, and the author of two books: "The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption" and "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement."
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