Thread by @AylingLindsay

On Saturday, I went to DC to join the Black Lives Matter protest &oppose the Proud Boys' fascist hate rally.

I'm going to thread some thoughts on how DC's Metropolitan Police Department bled anti-racists' numbers & made it easier for PBs to roam the streets assaulting people. 1/

I decided not to live tweet because friends who were watching fascists' livestreams tipped me off that a couple of them said they were looking for me. We were outnumbered, so I didn't want to give hints of my position.

Nonetheless I hope this retrospective will be useful 2/

For most of the day, the Black Lives Matter protest remained in BLM Plaza. Cops soft-kettled us for extended periods of time. Usually, there was one exit where anti-racists could leave, but no entrance to get back in. So if you left, you'd be deprived of safety in numbers. 3/

However, the MPD occasionally let MAGAs into the Plaza, including in this instance where they gave them a police escort (including stills because video shows anti-racists' faces). 4/

The vast majority of MAGAs who entered BLM Plaza refused to wear masks, showing utter contempt for Black lives amid a pandemic that has disproportionately killed BIPOC.

When MAGAs came through, the anti-racist crowd would shame them until they left. 5/

In the afternoon, the MPD made multiple incursions into BLM Plaza, tear gassing us and brutally arresting several people. 6/

By the evening, groups of 40 or more Proud Boys were wandering the city in all directions, picking targets to assault. They targeted trans people and Black people.

The also attacked those they assumed were "Antifa" or liberal, which in some cases meant anyone wearing masks. 7/

A large group of Black Lives Matter protesters decided to slip the soft kettle and show we would not be intimidated. We attempted to march through the city, but in contrast to the police approach to the Proud Boys, the cops repeatedly blocked the anti-racist march. 8/

Here is one moment where the police blocked off our march with a bike line and began slamming bicycles into anti-racists' legs. 9/

When we passed by a hotel where Proud Boys were staying, police tear gassed us and the press (there were no physical clashes, just people yelling).

As the Proud Boys chanted "USA! USA!" the wind changed directions and the tear gas began to waft back toward them and the cops. 10/

Outside a different hotel, Proud Boys repeatedly threw fireworks at Black Lives Matter marches.

After the first wave of firework attacks, the cops inexplicably ran into the anti-racist crowd and arrested our people. 11/

The Proud Boys couldn't throw for shit and many of their fireworks ended up exploding near them and the cops. After one smoke canister blew up a the cops' feet, one of them finally turned around and tackled the Proud Boy who threw it. 12/

I didn't see any of the fireworks hit our people because I was trying to get away from the explosions, but someone told me later at least one anti-racist was badly hurt

Compounded with the firework attack, the cops gassed us again and several anti-racists needed eye flushes. 13/

The MPD was apparently content to allow PBs to roam the city and commit hate crimes that would mostly not be caught on camera. But they sought to prevent the type of large, visible fight at BLM Plaza which could have caused them bad PR. 14/

At one point, a group of 40-60 Proud Boys approached BLM Plaza from a then-open direction. Anti-racists converged, began marching forward, and prepared to defend the plaza.

Right before we would have met, police rushed forward in two lines & began beating everyone. 15/

I took this video shortly after that moment. A small group of cops rushed an anti-racist and dogpiled them.

I am not sure why they singled that person out. As you can see, that person was behind my position. Since I never reached the PBs, they wouldn't have either. 16/

I remained in BLM Plaza for awhile after that, but PBs continued assaulting people on the outside. At one point, anti-racists who had (visibly) just been attacked attempted to get back to the Plaza. Cops wouldn't let them & told them to go back in the direction of the PBs. 17/

I joined some other anti-racists so we could walk that group back to their car. It was difficult avoiding the Proud Boys on that walk because they were roving the city in numbers and in all directions, enjoying the freedom of movement denied to large groups of anti-racists. 18/

We eventually managed it, but on the way back we narrowly avoided being overrun by a march of 200 Proud Boys who had just been hyped up by Alex Jones and were out for blood.

Thankfully, friends monitoring fascists online had tipped us off about their position.19/

Even before that happened, we knew we could not return to BLM Plaza because the cops would have denied us entry, and we would have been pinched between them and the fascists. 20/

In sum, police blocked the movements of anti-racists while leaving bloodthirsty Proud Boys largely unchecked. They gnawed away at our numbers by preventing us from returning to the Plaza and therefore made it easier for fascists to pick off small groups. 21/