Armed Second Amendment activists with the "Boogaloo" movement and @BLM757 approached the Capitol building in Richmond, Virginia this afternoon and were confronted by police over a new state gun law preventing firearms on the premises, effective July 1.
"I hope you have some other way to defend yourself or avoid the situation" a VA Capitol officer suggested to @BLM757 activists. "If you don't like the laws enacted, talk to your elected leaders.
One describes being shot at by Trump supporters explaining why he needs the 2A.
A boogaloo activist told a Capitol Police officer that the United States was started by "people like us."
Both sides agreed to back off from one another, and the Boogaloos & BLM stepped a block back from the area where guns are forbidden as of July 1.
One boogaloo member noted that it was just last year that 20,000+ Second Amendment activists gathered in Richmond chanting "We will not comply" but that they are indeed complying as new local ordinances and state laws affect gun rights in the area.
Still, a local ordinance in Richmond makes it a misdemeanor to carry a firearm anywhere in the city at a demonstration that has or would require a permit.
The activists posed with their guns next to the sign banning them where they stood.
That ordinance went unenforced.
Activist "Pops" (who carried four firearms today) asked the people in attendance about their magazine sizes.
20+ round mags are illegal in Richmond, but the boogaloos showed off that they defied that as well.
Pops also pointed out that the anti-gun ordinances in Richmond passed "all of a sudden" following social justice demonstrations this summer, he believes, to repress their gun rights.
He concluded by lighting a blunt, which he said is "legalish" and told me it's CBD, with a wink.
Here's my full @N2Sreports raw video summary of today's confrontation between Virginia Capitol Police and armed Boogaloo & BLM757 activists over the new gun ordinance banning firearms around the state capitol.
As always, all footage available to license.
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VIDEO THREAD: This morning, environmental activists with @ShutDown_DC, @IENearth, @ArmInArmClimate blocked several entrances to the White House to demand Biden back policies for a fossil-fuel-free future.
At east entrance, they chained themselves to fake oil tower and wind mill.
"We'll speak to you in your colonizer language if we have to," an activist said in an interview directed at Biden as activists blockaded White House south entrance.
"We're demanding that you put climate at the front of your agenda like you said in the first place."
At the White House south entrance, a vehicle tried to get in despite the enviro activist blockade.
Activists cheered as police made the car turn around.
Washington DC is officially adding sale (but not possession) of flavored/menthol tobacco products to the drug war.
The Democratic City council members that voted for the ban specifically say they support it because Black residents prefer these products. washingtonpost.com/local/dc-polit…
The City Council had a heated debate on the subject, with dissenting voices saying that the criminalization of flavored tobacco dealers will disproportionately subject Black residents to police response.
The flavored/menthol tobacco ban specifically exempts hookah bars.
So as a practical example: A hookah bar may serve shisha to its customers, but an entrepreneur like Eric Garner selling Newports with menthol would be subject to arrest.
VIDEO THREAD: Hundreds of progressive activists marched and several including @RevJJackson and @RevDrBarber were arrested this afternoon outside Capitol offices protesting Senators Mitch McConnell (R) and Joe Manchin (D) for the senate's failure to pass the "For the People Act."
Reverends @RevJJackson and @RevDrBarber led activists onto the in an act of civil disobedience after the senators "never responded" to requests for meetings about voting rights.
It's a "resurrection, not insurrection" they say.
United States Capitol Police Captain Carneysha Mendoza gave the activists three warnings on a megaphone before the arrests began.
No activists resisted, and the officers did not use flex ties or handcuffs as they set up a "post and forfeit" system on site.
Joe Biden’s new anti-terrorism initiative classifies “anarchist violent extremists” that “oppose all forms of capitalism, corporate globalization, and governing institutions, which are perceived as harmful to society” as “domestic violent extremists.”
The reason I reference this is that as Congress and Biden expand policing power and budgets, the media’s framing largely pertains to right-wing extremism.
Biden is making no secret of the fact that his administration puts the Antifascist movement officially in the same boat.
Several hundred protesters faced off against the Colombian government's ESMAD (Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron) who deployed tear gas, "less lethal" munitions, and a water cannon against the crowd Wednesday night in Bogota, Colombia.
Protesters shot a barrage of fireworks at the water cannon and threw tear gas canisters back in its direction, but that was unsuccessful in deterring the armored vehicle.
Protesters used a shield wall in an attempt to stand their ground against the water cannon, but a fast approach from the vehicle and tear gas caused their line to separate and fall back.