Wednesday, May 25, 2016

A wrong turn in Albuquerque

It's gonna be fun, everyone:
Protests outside a Donald Trump rally in New Mexico turned violent Tuesday night as demonstrators threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, overturned trash cans and knocked down barricades.

Authorities responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center in what police later called a "riot."

During the rally, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, who shouted, held up banners and resisted removal by security officers.
This part deserves special mention:
The banners included the messages "Trump is Fascist" and "We've heard enough."
We've heard enough. As always, the debate is over. It's one thing to dislike Trump -- goodness knows, I'm a declared #NeverTrump person myself, so my bona fides are in order -- but it's quite another to say "we've heard enough" and then try to shut down free speech. And if you're calling someone a fascist while simultaneously using fascist tactics, well....

At least one local observer got it right:
Albuquerque attorney Doug Antoon said rocks were flying through the convention center windows as he was leaving Tuesday night. Glass was breaking and landing near his feet.

"This was not a protest, this was a riot. These are hate groups," he said of the demonstrators.
Yes. And the more we see behavior of this sort, the more it helps The Donald.

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