Most interesting to me is when the wheelchair bound vet describes a group not related to the protesters comes in (after the people in black were allowing the right wing goon squad beat on them without responding violently back) and the violence starts between a different group later on.
The above sock puppet is demonstrating a perfect example of right wing propaganda trying to paint 'Antifa' as the rioters.
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2020/08/10/fort-collins-police-rally-protesters-dispute-aggressors-both-sides-caused-brawl/3334912001/
More arrests are expected as a result of pro-police rally that devolved into a brawl near Fort Collins Police Services headquarters Saturday, Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said.
The event —
a Defend the Police rally organized by Northern Colorado Young Republicans — started with police supporters lining up in front of the police department along Nancy Gray Avenue around 3 p.m. Not long after, it ended in three arrests and one citation after rally attendees and counter protesters converged during a fight in a nearby neighborhood.
After the Defend the Police rally began, Black Lives Matter demonstrators started gathered on the north side of Nancy Gray Avenue across from rally attendees, according to videos from the event and Fort Collins resident Wes Carter, who attended the pro-police rally.
Carter, a 73-year-old Air Force veteran, told the Coloradoan he originally attended the rally to support its message of standing with "the 99% of good, courageous law enforcement (officers)," according to the event's description.
When Black Lives Matter demonstrators congregated across the street from the rally, Carter said he went over in his wheelchair to join them.
"I felt that I could go over there and support both (sides)," Carter said. "There was nothing I would be doing over (on the Black Lives Matter side) that was against the values expressed by the (defend the police) side."
While demonstrators on both sides of the road were originally peaceful, Carter said as he moved to join the Black Lives Matter group, he noticed some attendees of the pro-police rally coming across the street as well.
When the two groups started interacting with and speaking to each other, they got close — "belly-to-belly," Carter said. "But it was just vocal. Not threatening, not violent," he added.
Then, a group of other demonstrators, largely clad in black clothing and masks, started joining the Black Lives Matters group along the north side of Nancy Gray Avenue, Carter said. Some of the pro-police demonstrators who had walked across the street began encircling the protesters and walking its members backwards into a neighborhood west of the police department.
Carter said he does not know what group the demonstrators in black belonged to because they were not in the original group of Black Lives Matter protesters lined up along the street.
Larson Ross, who was part of the original group of Black Lives Matter protesters, said he wasn't sure what movement, if any, those in all black were affiliated with either, but several were wearing red cross patches to identify themselves as protest medics.
Wearing all black to a protest is a common defensive tactic to prevent being identified from photos after the protest and "isn't indicative of any group coordination," Ross said.
As tensions rose between the groups, videos show the demonstrators in black being called "antifa" and "commie scum" by voices off screen.
Carter said some of the people who walked over from the pro-police rally also yelled out racial slurs.
The demonstrators in black clothing "were passive," Carter added. "They let themselves be hit ... the antagonists went looking for a fight, the (protesters in all black) stood there and, bam, that was enough to invite the violence."
As the group walked further into the neighborhood, videos show that several people ended up in an open field between two houses. A series of videos submitted to the Coloradoan show neighbors looking on as tensions peak in the field.
Someone ended up in a ditch in the field and others piled on top of them, Carter said, and the standoff devolved into the brawl Fort Collins police officers soon responded to. He said he didn't get a good look at how people originally ended up in the ditch.
While some of the videos shared from the incident feature voices claiming someone "pushed a veteran out of his wheelchair," Carter said he jumped out of his wheelchair to help someone at the bottom of the ditch who was being hit by a pair of pro-police demonstrators.
"Nobody wanted to hit me or hurt me and they stopped," Carter said, adding that he was eventually helped back into his wheelchair.
Carter said the people involved in the brawl were a small portion of those attending the pro-police rally. He noted that most of the rally's attendees stayed on the southern side of Nancy Gray Avenue and remained nonviolent.
Northern Colorado Young Republicans had not responded to the Coloradoan's messages seeking comment about their rally by Monday afternoon.
Saturday's rally and protest resulted in the first notable physical altercation related to the roughly two dozen protests and gatherings held outside the Fort Collins Police Services building since George Floyd's killing in May, Swoboda said.
The melee ended in three arrests on various misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and possession of an illegal weapon. One person was also cited for criminal tampering, a class 2 misdemeanor, according to Fort Collins Police Services.
The Coloradoan has decided not to identify those arrested because they were arrested on misdemeanor charges. It is requesting police reports related to the fight to learn more about the criminal allegations.
Fort Collins police are still seeking information about the incident from anyone who was there, according to Swoboda. As a result of tips from the community and the work of investigators, Swoboda said more arrests relating to the fight are "imminent."
In a video statement released Sunday, Swoboda said there were "active aggressors on both sides," and that enforcement also happened on both sides.
Carter pushed back on that statement about aggressors being on both sides, calling it "absolutely incorrect."
"You can’t be aggressive when you’re walking backwards, trying to get out of there with agitators belly-to-belly against you screaming and yelling," he said.
Ross agreed. "There were not aggressors on both sides," he said. "(The protesters in all black) were just going to leave. They were walking away and doing it peacefully."
Swoboda stood by his statement about the incident's aggressors Monday, adding that several people on each side came to the event armed, with items ranging from sidearms and brass knuckles to pepper spray and fireworks.
"There were people that were looking for a fight on both sides," Swoboda said. "Seeing grown men act like this is really sad. This is not the Fort Collins that I have known for the past two years."
"Simply throwing on an 'I support the police' T-shirt, but then acting like a person with no regard for the law or safety of other people — that is not support, we do not want your support and we do not need your support," Swoboda said.
"You'll see, when arrest information comes out, (that) this was a destination for people looking to get into a fight for some," he added, noting that the vast majority of people involved in the fight were not Fort Collins residents.
"Let’s not be discouraged as a community and let’s continue to work together to address big issues," he said.
Anyone with information about this incident who may be able help in this investigation is asked to contact Detective C.J. O'Loughlin at 970-416-2571.