Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement late Tuesday denouncing violent left-wing “Antifa” protesters, saying they deserve “unequivocal condemnation” — a move that marks a significant shift away from a Democratic narrative that attacked President Trump for highlighting violence from the “alt-left.”
Pelosi released the statement in the wake of the latest bout of left-wing violence in Berkeley, California, over the weekend. “Antifa” protesters jumped barricades and assaulted peaceful demonstrators at a right-wing event on Sunday.
The events are the latest in a number of violent acts by the left-wing thugs, often seen all clad in black and smashing windows, but many acts have been largely ignored by the mainstream media. Yet since President Trump highlighted the largely unreported left-wing violence aurrounding the events of Charlottesville, Virginia, such acts have slowly been receiving more coverage.
Pelosi had previously called for the House to censure Trump over his response to Charlottesville, but with the increasing rise of left-wing violence, on Tuesday she released a statement condemning the left-wing rioters.
“Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The violent actions of people calling themselves Antifa in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted.”
“In California, as across all of our great nation, we have deep reverence for the Constitutional right to peaceful dissent and free speech,” she said. “Non-violence is fundamental to that right. Let us use this sad event to reaffirm that we must never fight hate with hate, and to remember the values of peace, openness and justice that represent the best of America.”
Trump had provoked the fury of both Democrats and mainstream media reporters when, despite his condemnations of white nationalists and neo-Nazis, he also condemned the violence on the part of what he described as the “alt-left.”
“Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem?” he asked. “I think they do.”
Trump was widely criticized for his remarks, with even top Republicans — such as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney — blasting Trump for his remarks.
“One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi,” Romney tweeted. “The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes.”
Romney has not tweeted since the violence in California on Sunday.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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