#StopTheSteal protestors clashed with counter protestors November 14th as the two groups faced off following the Million MAGA March that afternoon.
Thousands of citizens descended upon Washington DC in November to march down Pennsylvania Avenue, from Freedom Plaza to the Supreme Court, as a show of unity for President Trump. Attendees expressed frustration and distrust in the 2020 Election Results, which were called for Democratic nominee Joe Biden on November 7th.
The Million MAGA March attracted thousands of citizens to the nation’s capital, chanting protests like “Trump for King” and “Fox News Sucks” as they expressed their first amendment rights throughout the downtown area. During the day, counter protestors were few and far between; the attitude, I was told, was to let Trump supporters have their day and express their voices without conflict.
That evening, a separate rally was planned in Black Lives Matter Plaza, which is located perpendicular to the White House. This rally, which has been held every Saturday evening in support of Black Lives Matter for over the past several months, turned into an unexpected face off between the two groups after a set of Million MAGA March attendees rushed the event around 5pm.
Police attempted to disperse the crowd by separating the two groups on either side of a police line, as well as splitting the growing crowd into two sections — one on K Street and the other on 16th Street. What followed was the tale of two very different protests.
On K Street, the crowd settled from vitriolic insults being hurled across the police line to individual groups of bipartisan conversations happening throughout the crowd of about 150 people. Shortly before 7:30pm, the crowd had mostly dispersed and much of the police present had shifted their attention to the crowd on 16th Street.
On 16th Street, vitriolic insults were being hurled from both sides over a police line, which attempted to separate the growing tensions in the two groups. White supremacist hand gestures, chants, and the national anthem were being used among #StopTheSteal protestors as counter protestors responded with “Black Lives Matter” chants and “F*ck Donald Trump” played on a loud speaker.
Pepper Spray was used as a crowd control method, as well as police in riot gear, who pushed the group of counter protestors back to 16th and L Street to separate the two groups shortly before 8pm. Following this move, the crowd dispersed from about 250 people on 16th Street to about 50 counter protestors behind the new police line and a group of #StopTheSteal protestors in front of the hotel on 16th, and was thinning consistently.
At about 8:30pm, a group of protestors who identified themselves as the Proud Boys, a group that’s been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist hate group, showed up to the mostly dispersed protest. Soon after, a fight broke out between the remaining protestors of both groups, which left multiple people injured — including two people stabbed — and nearly two dozen people arrested.
[Editors Note]: It is here that I want to remind you of the premise of this project — we are more alike than different and most people are good. We the Voters is a non-partisan project; coverage of any group or event by We the Voters does not equal endorsement. As with all of my coverage in the past year, I hope it helps you gain a more full picture of the many pieces in the American puzzle.
