Antifa protesters took to the streets of two Washington State suburban communities Saturday night. The black bloc protesters (wearing all black) were on the streets of the Seattle suburbs of Bellevue and Bainbridge Island.
Protesters carried umbrellas as shields as they marched down the streets.
A citizen reporter and video journalist taped a scene and tweeted “Antifa harass individuals sitting in their vehicles.”
Protesters walked through the streets of downtown Bellevue which included residential housing.
Black bloc protesters gathered earlier near a wedding party in the city park.
Bellevue Washington police officials tweeted a video of the marchers in Downtown Park when they stopped on Main Street. Police reported the protesters were “making noise.”
Journalist Katie Daviscourt recorded a video and tweeted, “Antifa starts barking like rabid animals.”
Bellevue PD videoed a confrontation when some of the protestors “came upon a lone counter-demonstrator.”
They also reported a band of protesters that continued to march through the streets and one of them was seen “tagging the roadway with spray paint.”
Young women dressed in heels and cocktail dresses joined the marchers and “chanted in support of BLM.”
Daviscourt reported that residents living on the street showed their “distaste for Antifa, throw projectiles at them, and start cheering for Police Officers.” She said they also assaulted a member of the press. As the group marched by the residents they shouted, “Fire, fire, gentrifier.”
Earlier in the evening, City of Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson declared a civil emergency in the area “where demonstrations from multiple, opposing groups were reported.”
Robinson signed an emergency order banning the possession of enumerated “objects which can be used for infliction of bodily harm or damage to property if possessed with the intent to cause harm to persons or property.”
Objects spelled out in the emergency order included: rocks, bottles, pipes, bats, clubs, chains, sharpened objects, paintballs, shields, skateboards, and other items.
Firearms were specifically excluded in the emergency order but it also prohibited “discharging any firearms in the restricted area.” The order exempted peace officers or military personnel “engaged in the performance of their official duties.”
Bellevue PD warned protestors, “The City of Bellevue welcomes peaceful demonstrations,” but warned, “We do not tolerate lawlessness.”
Protesters counter to the black bloc chanted “back the blue” and protesters yelled back at them: “fascists.” Someone yelled, “The babies are back!,” and asked, “How are ya’ll babies doing?”
City residents both praised and criticized Mayor Robinson’s decision to issue the emergency order.
The mayor later lifted the emergency order at 11 p.m. The police department said they were “thankful for a peaceful event.”
Protesters on Saturday night also traveled to Bainbridge Island, a small city of approximately 25,000 in western Washington State.
Someone who grew up near Bainbridge Island tweeted, “It’s [sic] sucks that they are terrorizing the community with nonsense that has lost it’s [sic] purpose.”
Twitter user Kitty Shackleford tweeted, “I feel like they’re going out of their way to go to richer areas today.”
Another tweet warned that protests were planned for “a high end community in the portland [sic] area. Coordinated attacks”
BLM has a scheduled invasion of Lake Oswego for Sunday at 1:00 pm PT, Breitbart News reported. Lake Oswego is an affluent neighborhood located south of Portland and surrounding the 405-acre Oswego lake.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart News. She is a trial lawyer who previously served as a prosecutor and family court associate judge in Texas. You can reach Shadwick at Lana@LanaShadwick.com.
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