Posts Tagged: protests

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Chilling video shows balcony railing collapse as 7 students fall to their death

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YouTube

Seven college students died when a railing they were leaning against broke, sending them plummeting to the concrete floor below.

The tragic incident happened at the Public University of El Alto in Bolivia on Tuesday.

About 100 maskless students were protesting in a packed hallway outside a lecture hall where a tense meeting was being held.

Fights broke out and some of the students were jostling each other when the railing gave way.

Seven students were pronounced dead at the scene. Five students are in critical condition at a hospital.

Disturbing video footage, captured by a bystander showed the moment before the railing broke. A dozen students fell to the concrete floor while a few students were pulled to safety.

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YouTube

A female student in a blue blouse dangled precariously over the edge before her fellow students grabbed her shoes and pulled her back up.

Two female students fortunately landed on the floor just below where the railing broke.

An investigation has been ordered into the accident.

Engineering standards in the United States require balconies to withstand 100 pounds per square feet of load while railings must withstand 200 pounds of force at any point along the railing.

But construction projects are not up to code in third world countries.

CAUTION: These videos contain graphic images that may be disturbing to some viewers.
 

 

 

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Outrage: Twitter reacts to judge’s refusal to issue arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse

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Kenosha County Jail

A judge in Kenosha, Wisconsin denied prosecutors' requests to raise Kyle Rittenhouse's bail or issue an arrest warrant for the teenager who killed 2 people during anti-police protests last summer.

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Rittenhouse, then 17, was armed with a friend's AR-15 semi-automatic rifle when he traveled to Kenosha during the protests and riots following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Rittenhouse (pictured center) was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting death of Anthony Huber, 26 (pictured right), first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Joseph Rosenbaum (not pictured), and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for wounding Gaige Grosskreutz ([pictured left), who was armed with a handgun.

Rittenhouse maintains he shot the three Antifa protesters in self-defense because they were armed with weapons when they attacked him.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A protester who kicked Rittenhouse in the head was not shot because he was unarmed.

Rittenhouse is accused of violating the terms of his $2 million cash bond after he failed to update his new address when he moved out of his mother's Antioch, Illinois apartment.

Prosecutors had asked Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder to raise Rittenhouse's bond by $200,000 cash, and issue a warrant for his arrest. But the judge declined both requests.

The terms of Rittenhouse's cash bail require him to update his new address within 48 hours of moving.

In an unusual decision, the judge sealed Rittenhouse's current address and refused to provide it to the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office.

The district attorney previously refused to keep Rittenhouse's address a secret.

Rittenhouse moved to a "safe house" after receiving death threats.

Twitter users expressed outrage at the judge's decision.

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Trump Warns Dems: Impeachment is ‘Causing Tremendous Anger’

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

After spending a few days golfing at his Florida resort, President Donald Trump returned to Washington, DC, and spoke for the first time since the Capitol riots.

Speaking to a small pool of reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, Trump warned Democrats that their efforts to impeach him for a second time is "causing tremendous anger" among his base.

House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment on Monday, saying they have enough votes to impeach Trump on Wednesday, Jan. 13, just days before his term as President is set to end.

Trump said the impeachment is "a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics."

"We want no violence," he said, before adding that his January 6th speech was "totally appropriate."

5 people died in the clashes at the Capitol building after Trump's fiery speech in DC on Wednesday. Among the dead is a 14-year Air Force veteran who was shot in the neck by a DC cop.

The FBI says armed protests are set to take place in all 50 states prior to the inauguration on January 20.

Trump boasted, "we have support probably like nobody's ever seen before."

Trump was permanently banned on Twitter and Facebook for "inciting violence" in the nation's Capitol.

The President condemned the social media blackout and said he warned his followers he would be banned on Twitter and Facebook.

"This will be a catastrophic mistake for them," he said. "They are dividing and divisive."
 

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Open Post: Police Arrest Trump Supporter Who Ransacked Pelosi’s Office

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Getty Images, Twitter

A MAGA supporter who ransacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Capitol Hill office has been arrested.

A viral photo showed MAGA supporter Richard Barnett with his feet propped up on Pelosi's desk in her office inside the Capitol building during rioting in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

According to The Washington Free Beacon, Barnett, 60, was arrested at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Friday.

He was charged with entering and remaining on restricted grounds, violent entry and theft of public property.

Barnett was among a group of protesters who entered the Capitol building and ransacked Pelosi's office, breaking picture frames, and scrawling messages on her desk.

Barnett is one of 26 protesters wanted for rioting in the U.S. Capitol that left 5 people dead, including Ashli Babbitt, a 14-year U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot in the neck by a DC police officer. The officer, who has not been identified, has been placed on leave.

Just days before the DC protests, someone spray-painted messages on the garage door of Pelosi's San Francisco home.

Vandals also left a severed pig's head on her driveway in the early morning hours of New Year's Day.

Police responded to a 911 call of a disturbance at the property at 2 a.m. in the city's wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood. The graffiti read: "CANCEL RENT! WE WANT EVERYTHING."

Protesters also hit the Kentucky home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and spray-painted his garage door with the words: "WERES MY MONEY [sic]," and "MITCH KILLS THE POOR."

The vandalism occurred hours after McConnell refused to pass a bill for $2,000 Covid-19 stimulus checks.

Also on Friday, MAGA supporters mobbed South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham as he arrived at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC.


 

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Trump Promises ‘Orderly Transition’ After Biden Wins Majority Electoral College Vote

AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump has promised an "orderly transition" of power after President-elect Joe Biden won the majority electoral college vote on January 6, 2021.

The outgoing President, who has repeatedly accused the Democrats of orchestrating a coup against him and stealing the November 2020 election, issued a statement on Thursday.

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20," Trump confirmed.

"I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again."

Trump released the statement through his deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino's Twitter account at 3:50 am ET Wednesday.

Trump spoke to his followers via his official accounts on conservative social media platforms GAB.com and Parler.com late Wednesday.

Trump's personal Twitter account was locked for 12 hours after he shared tweets and a video telling MAGA protesters to go home amid riots and bloodshed in Washington, D.C.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Earlier in the day, MAGA protesters forced their way into the Capitol building and broke through doors leading to the offices of Congressional lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Activists scrawled notes on Pelosi's desk and one protester walked off with her lectern.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

DC police sprayed tear gas at the protesters. One lawmaker reportedly suffered chest pains during the assault on the Capitol building.

Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, of Ocean Beach, Calif., was shot in the face by a DC police officer when she and others forced their way through a locked door.

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KUSI News

Babbitt, 37, was unarmed and on the other side of a locked door when the officer shot her through the door. The officer has not been identified. Babbitt was later pronounced dead.

Prior to the incident, Trump addressed his followers, who gathered maskless on the Ellipse near the White House: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. We're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering, so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong."

After Vice President Mike Pence refused Trump's direct order to block the electoral college vote by Congress, Trump called Pence a traitor and locked Pence's chief of staff out of the White House.

Trump was widely condemned on social media, with calls to have Trump removed from office by impeachment or through the invocation of the 25th Amendment.

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BLM protesters smash Breonna Taylor sculpture in Oakland

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GoFundMe

A bust created in honor of slain Louisville resident Breonna Taylor was smashed and vandalized, presumably by Black Lives Matter protesters, in downtown Oakland, California over the weekend.

Police are investigating the act of vandalism and vowed to get even with whoever smashed the bust in protest of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was shot to death by three undercover cops who served a wrong house warrant on Taylor's Louisville apartment in March.

The ceramic bust, installed 2 weeks ago, was painted brown and featured the words "Say Her Name Breonna Taylor."

The artist, Leo Carson, expressed his disappointment and said the vandalism felt like a personal attack on himself and Taylor.

"At first I was stunned and shocked and hurt and angry," said Carson, an unemployed waiter. "Just a whole flood of emotions. It felt like I was personally attacked and also they attacked Breonna Taylor and the BLM movement."

Carson, who was among those demonstrating in the streets prior to the November 3 presidential elections, spent the next 6 weeks creating the sculpture.

"I was able to take that time and practice and training I have as an artist and put that into service of something much bigger than myself that's happening," Carson said.

Carson created a GoFundMe page to help defray the cost of repairing the bust.

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Owner agrees to sell gas station to Black activist who boycotted his station for 60+ days

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CBS46

A DeKalb County businessman has agreed to sell his gas station after a clerk was caught on camera yelling that he hates the Black community.

The incident happened in mid October at a Exxon gas station on Flat Shoals Road in east Atlanta.

A customer filmed the clerk yelling "I don't give a f*&k about the black neighborhood, okay?" The incident caught the attention of activist Joe Jones who organized a protest outside the station that lasted more than 60 days.

"We sent a clear message that we will no longer tolerate disrespect," Jones told CBS 46 News. The owner, Rahim Sivji apologized, but the protests continued because of alleged racist incidents at the same gas station in the past.

"It is, in fact, a privilege to get Black dollars," Jones said.

Sivji told CBS46 he made the decision to sell the store because he feared for his life.

"They tried to put me out of business," Sivji said in a phone call with CBS46. He added that he lost 70% of his revenue due to the protest.

"It got to the point over here where I'm just thinking either its -- I have to save my life or save my store. I said, okay... hell with my store, I want to say my life."

Sivji signed an agreement to sell the gas station with an option for Jones to buy it for $5 million.

Jones launched a GoFundMe page that raised over $2,000 of a $5 million goal.

He is pleased that the owner agreed to sell. "You know, this is a perfect opportunity to take this situation and try to promote, uh, a situation of Black ownership," Jones said.
 

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It begins: Black Lives Matter D.C. Attacks National BLM National Leadership

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Black Lives Matter D.C. chapter has gone on the attack against Black Lives Matter's national leadership for what they say is a failure to support local chapters.

In a series of tweets on Monday, BLM DC slammed BLM national for undermining "the work & integrity of local chapters."

Among BLM DC's complaints are a lack of accounting to show where the millions in donations went.

BLM DC tweeted: "We demand full financial transparency and accountability to all chapters."

"Despite millions being donated to the network, local chapters have lacked support & resources from national leadership. As a result, much of our local community work continues to be erased. #BlackLivesMatter #BLM10."

"As a result of national leadership's actions, several local chapters have had the integrity of their community work questioned. We cannot afford to stay silent any longer."

"As we collectively determine next steps, we encourage our supporters to organize with and donate directly to chapters, who represent the frontline of Black Lives Matter."

It sounds like the Black members of Black Lives Matter haven't received the memo that the election is over and they were used as pawns in an elaborate political scheme.

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North Carolina town hall caught off guard by angry backlash to proposed mask mandate

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Medicalkidnap.com

A tiny notice in a small-town newspaper about a meeting to enact a local mask mandate resulted in more than 100 angry citizens packed into the town hall Tuesday night.

On Monday, Waynesville, NC Mayor Gary Caldwell told The Mountaineer newspaper he supported a mask mandate and he would "more than likely" sign it into law after the City Council meeting on Tuesday.

"To keep the citizens here in Waynesville safe, this will be a good step," Caldwell told the paper on Monday. "It's gotten to the point where we gotta do this to try to get those numbers to come down."

But the mayor and five board members did not expect the angry backlash from more than 100 people piled into town hall screaming their heads off about their rights being violated.

When told they had to wear a mask to participate in the meeting, they refused, and chanted "take it outside" since the tiny town hall wasn't large enough.

Residents were tired of city government mandates telling them what to do. Many demanded the right to make their own medical decisions.

More police were called in to control the crowd. Those wishing to speak were asked to fill out a form and wait until their names were called.

According to The Mountaineer, the five City Council members entered through a back door and were ushered into a back room to wait until police reinforcements arrived.

Attempts to disperse the angry crowd were futile. The residents were told only 20 people could enter the board room at a time. The others would have to wait outside.

Eventually the doors to the board room were closed to drown out the loud cheers and clapping by those in the hall.

Attorney Bill Cannon finally called the meeting after 32 minutes, saying the allotted time for the hearing was up. The hearing was expected to last 90 minutes.

Many outside still waiting to speak were furious. Waynesville resident Janet Presson told The Mountaineer that board members were "unprepared" for the backlash to a mask mandate.

"I think they were dumbfounded and horrified," Presson said. "Mask mandates are a major issue that affect every single person. It is a hot-button issue. They should have done some better planning."
 

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Trump supporter fired for coughing on BLM protesters in viral video

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Screenshot: YouTube

A Utah man has apologized after he lost his job for coughing on Black Lives Matter protesters.

Robert Brissette, of Kanab, issue an apology after he was caught on viral video coughing on Black Lives Matter protesters.

The incident happened on Saturday, Oct. 10, at a Kanab gas station. Brissette told the NY Post he was pumping gas when the protesters "goaded" him by throwing rocks at his pickup truck.

"The action was screwed up on my part," Brissette said. "I should never have done that, and that part I apologize for. But to the person that I did it at, I do not apologize to. I apologize to the general public for being a dumb s—t doing that. But the person I did it at deserved it."

Brissette, 42, said he didn't actually cough on the protesters. "I only made the sound. I didn't spit on them or anything. I fake-coughed. It was a fake."

Brissette said he fake-coughed 11 times and he knocked a cap off a protester's head. He said a female BLM organizer slapped him three times in the face, but the video didn't capture that.

Brissette and the BLM protesters are Caucasian. He said he was forced to delete his social media accounts and change his phone number after receiving an avalanche of threats.

Brissette created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his legal defense. But he took the page down after police declined to charge him.