Demonstrators supporting and opposing the Christmas drag show at the Aztec Theater in San Antonio have begun arriving.
Both sides are armed.
The far right group claims the show is grooming children. Counter protesters are here supporting LGBTQ rights and anti-fascism. @TPRNewstwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The number of protesters on both sides is growing.
The number of armed protesters is growing too.
The anti-fascist and LGBTQ rights supporters side has more people and guns at the moment. As seen here, a group carrying guns arrived a little while ago.
It’s about an hour before the Christmas drag show starts. Both sides have grown quite a bit, but the LGBTQ side far outnumbers the far-right protestors side by about 4 to 1. @TPRNews
San Antonio police officers are standing nearby the protests.
San Antonio police officers are spread out at different parts of the protest area.
But I think most are posted up in front of the Drury inn and suites hotel next to the side with This Texas Freedom Force.
Meanwhile, at the Aztec Theater, attendees of the drag queen Christmas show are being let in. It’s relatively calm on the side of the block.
A look at both protests from a few minutes ago.
A brief tense moment: This guy that came from the far-right side looked like he was trying to agitate someone else into a fight — I’m not exactly sure what started it but SAPD removed who appeared to be the instigator. @TPRNews
I spoke to The Queen Fantasia a moment ago who performs drag shows regularly in San Antonio. They said they came out tonight because “our community is under attack right now and if we are not the ones who show up in support of our own cause, then who will?”
They have been a few small moments of aggression like this over the last 30 mins or so. Nothing major it seems.
SAPD have lined themselves in front of both opposing sides. Seems like they’re trying to keep people from either side from crossing over.
The drag show ended at 10:30 pm almost on the dot. People began trickling out of the theater and by this time most people on either side of the protest had left. There were still a few people on each side shouting at each other.
Josh and I left shortly after this.
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San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg says this crisis has created extreme hardship and the goal today is to figure out what happened to prevent this from happening in the future. He adds ERCOT’s failure created hardship across the state and state leaders must get to the bottom of it.
San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh says SAPD/SAFD received twice the normal call volume - about 20,000 calls for service and there were more than 1,400 vehicle accidents on Saturday/Sunday.
The folks who are answering your questions are:
Liz Provencio, City of San Antonio Deputy City Attorney
Larry L. Roberson of the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney’s Office
and Bexar County DA Joe Gonzales
Provencio and DA Gonzales both say that people are expected to follow the order to Stay At Home but there won’t be law enforcement actively seeking people who are not observing the order.
1/ Alright kiddos! It’s time for City Council! On the agenda today are two big items. Sending the fire union’s charter amendments to voters and approving paid sick time or sending that to voters too. Going to be live tweeting on this thread in the posts below ⬇️⬇️ @TPRNews
2/ You might remember my story from yesterday: A PAC tried to sue the Fire Union to prevent the council from placing the items on the ballot. Here's that story. tpr.org/post/judge-all…
3/ The city council's role in the amendments is purely ministerial in where it has to put them on the ballot. The lawsuit in the above tweet is still expected to more forward on other grounds. A council briefing on the expected impact of the amendments will made before vote.