The Ugly Side of Antifa
Woodhouse, Leighton
http://leightonwoodhouse.com/the-ugly-side-of-antifa/
Publisher: Law -Leighton Akio Woodhouse's blog
When you criticize Antifa members or their defenders for the tactic of mob violence, the reflexive response is usually something like, "There are literal Nazis marching in the streets, and you're attacking us over your precious little non-violence principles?" But Antifa doesn't have a monopoly over concern for what's happening in this country.
Yesterday, at the anti-Alt-Right rally in Berkeley, I watched groups of masked Antifa members in Black Bloc formation swarm individuals who were apparently antagonizing them, and pummel them with their fists, feet, and flagpoles. When the victims tried to escape, they were run down, and in at least one case, cut off by the Antifa mob and beaten down some more. In the incidents I witnessed, about five or six Antifa members at a time participated in the attacks, while perhaps 50 others stood behind them, forming an impenetrable wall that blocked bystanders from intervening, or documenting the violence on camera. Those people would also help chase the victims when they fled.
In one case, as a crowd of non-Black Bloc protesters yelled at the assailants to let their victim go, an Antifa activist yelled, "He's a Nazi!" over and over again, justifying the assault. Then, abruptly, maybe after realizing that the victim was not, in fact, a white nationalist, he changed his mantra. "He doesn't have to be a Nazi!" he now shouted. The suggestion was that even if the victim wasn't a fascist, he still deserved to be beaten. For what was unclear. Maybe because he supported Trump? Or he objected to Antifa's tactics? Or refused to do something they ordered him to do? Who knew? The only thing those of us watching from a few yards away could tell was that a man, by himself, was on the ground, with a bloodied face, covering his head with his arms, being kicked and punched by a group of masked people, who were shielded by dozens of their comrades. My guess is that a lot of the Antifa people in the crowd who were passively assisting in the violence, including the guy yelling that he was a Nazi, didn't know anything more than that, either.