The latest flare-up of protests over police-involved shootings was interrupted briefly by the slaughter of five police officers at one such demonstration in Dallas, but President Obama flew back from Europe, united everyone in blame at a memorial service for the fallen cops, sat down for a fact-challenged gun violence town hall (with the uncomfortable bits edited out), and then returned to his weekend golf schedule.
Those protesters who couldn’t make it to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention are making up for it by blocking highways and streets in their own cities.
Marissa Mitchell of Fox 5 in Atlanta was on hand to cover Saturday’s protests, where an ugly encounter went down between protesters blocking the street and a driver who managed to break through the line, only to be chased down and confronted again, violently.
#BlackLivesMatter now blocking streets at Underground ATL #atlisready @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/vVwm21PV0R
— Marissa Mitchell (@MarissaMFOX5) July 16, 2016
This doesn’t end well. So: the giant who approaches the car is clearly identifiable, as is the driver, and the car happens to have a magnet on the side with a phone number. Who is getting a visit from the police after this incident, if anyone? Is there some reason cops are allowing people to stand in the middle of the street in the first place?
Driver asked #BlackLivesMatter to move out 1-way street at the Underground @FOX5Atlanta #atlisready pic.twitter.com/Q1Wrlj5aad
— Marissa Mitchell (@MarissaMFOX5) July 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/MarissaMFOX5/status/754466798028881920
Dangerous is right, but which is more dangerous: standing in the middle of the street as a form of protest, or trying to go about your daily business when demonstrators have decided they’re not going to allow it?
#BlackLivesMatter blocks street. Driver goes through and this happens @FOX5Atlanta #atlisready pic.twitter.com/410cipHBr3
— Marissa Mitchell (@MarissaMFOX5) July 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/Chipload/status/754470453327126528
Interesting @MarissaMFOX5 @FOX5Atlanta looks like #BLM protestors attacked driver. Suggesting the driver confronted protesters just biased
— Cedar Posts (@CedarPosts) July 17, 2016
The big protester in the hat should be arrested. Disgusting thuggery.
— BobG (@BobGriggs) July 17, 2016
We’d ask where the police are while all this is happening, but unless we’re seeing things, a police cruiser is clearly visible in the last clip.
Clearly, Atlanta wasn’t the only city where protesters blocked traffic Saturday. Sure, lives were disrupted and endangered, but the cause is righteous, so does it really matter if the demonstrations actually have any effect whatsoever?
Highway shutdown Baltimore. #Afromation pic.twitter.com/9qBIlHoiu2
— ??♂️??♂️???? (@BmoreDoc) July 16, 2016
I got people on my TL whining about a highway shutdown when Black people are gunned down & killed in jails by law enforcement. #Afromation
— ??♂️??♂️???? (@BmoreDoc) July 16, 2016
Mike Brown had somewhere to go too. #shutitdown #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/qLEQLRlHyH
— Leslie Fulbright (@LeslieFulbright) July 16, 2016
Hey 64 west is shut down. @handsupunited_ pic.twitter.com/7IzEICbTIN
— Black Visions Collective (@BlackVisionsMN) July 16, 2016
Good thing Obama rushed back to the States to bring everyone together in time for golf on Saturday.
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