Trump supporters face string of attacks in run-up to Election Day

According to Fox news

The Trump campaign called out “unprovoked violence” against the president’s supporters in recent weeks after a string of attacks ranging from New York City to San Francisco.

“No one should be attacked for peacefully showing their support of the president, and all Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, should be disgusted by this type of unprovoked violence,” a Trump campaign spokesperson told Fox News on Tuesday.

The statement comes after a family of seven — including four children — said they were pepper-sprayed by counterprotesters on Sunday while participating in a pro-Trump vehicle caravan in New York City.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said 11 people were taken into custody after the rally descended into chaos and violence Sunday afternoon. One of the people arrested on Sunday, a 36-year-old homeless man identified as Devan Harris, is accused of throwing eggs in two police officers’ faces and then resisting arrest, the NYPD said.

BREAKING IN MANHATTAN. Anti-Trump protesters rip flags off vehicles part of the #JewsForTrump vehicle convoy. Throw red paint on vehicles, punch Trump supporters. @realDonaldTrump @TrumpWarRoom pic.twitter.com/qbCeMKWWl9

— NYScanner (@nyscanner) October 25, 2020

Groups including United Against Racism and Fascism NYC and NYC Antifa posted about their involvement with the counterprotest.

“Outside agitators came into NYC today and were told to GTFO,” NYC Antifa wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Outside agitators came into NYC today and were told to GTFO. https://t.co/ytLeYAoEqG

— New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) October 25, 2020

United Against Racism and Fascism NYC’s counterprotest started near Central Park and “some members of the crowd continued to Times Square to counter-protest,” according to the group’s Twitter account.

“The vague insinuation that our anti-fascist action was anti-Semitic is insulting,” the gropu wrote on Twitter. “It was called by our coalition, which includes many Jews, and @outlivethemnyc, a Jewish antifascist group. Meanwhile, we were protesting actual white supremacists.”

@nytimes @AP let’s get some facts straight:
There was a Trump car caravan that drove into Manhattan to join a rally and march organized by a crowd of far-right activists, and sponsored by CommCap America, which specializes in “distressed community lending.”🧐Not “Jews for Trump.” pic.twitter.com/P94r42VTDr

— United Against Racism and Fascism NYC (@UARFNYC) October 26, 2020

The Jewish Telegraph Agency reported that a convoy was to take place in several Orthodox Jewish communities ahead of an event in Brooklyn organized by Boris Epshteyn, an adviser to the Trump campaign and co-chair of Jewish Voices for Trump.

Cities including Gettysburg, Pa., Douglas, Mass., and Pueblo, Colo., have seen clashes between pro-Trump and anti-Trump groups as well as violence against Trump supporters.

Gettysburg, a normally quiet college town, is being described as a microcosm of American political polarization as Black Lives Matter demonstrations and “Trump trains” have stretched its small police department, the Washington Post reported.

“A lot of folks have just had it with the hubbub of what’s going on,” Gettysburg Police Chief Robert W. Glenny Jr. told the Washington Post.

Incidents in Massachusetts and Colorado involved attacks on individual Trump supporters. Kiara Dudley, 34, was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran while he and his wife were holding a “Veterans for Trump” sign at an intersection in Douglas, Mass., the Boston Herald reported.

In Pueblo, Colo., a Trump supporter captured body camera footage of his clash with a man he said was taking a shovel to his truck. Fred Haddock told KRDO he did not provoke Gabriel Perez, 32, while waving an American flag on the side of the highway. Haddock’s footage shows him rushing across the highway to his truck, where he scuffled with Perez and eventually chased him off with pepper spray.

A supporter of President Trump says he was attacked by a man with a shovel while he was waving a flag along a street corner in Pueblo. WATCH: https://t.co/9CEQtnL0eF

— KRDO NewsRadio (@KRDONewsRadio) October 2, 2020

“He smashed the windows of both doors, and smashed the back window out [of the truck],” Haddock told KRDO. “I was just there.That seemed to be provocation enough for him. For some reason the [American] flag itself seemed to be enough provocation to him. ”

A free speech rally in San Francisco attracted national attention after organizer Philip Anderson, a Trump supporter, said a counterprotester knocked his teeth out and lit up social media with a bloody photo. The San Francisco Police Department said it arrested a 35-year-old man named Adora Anderson for the alleged assault and charged him with mayhem and hate crime enhancement.

“The rally became so violent in nature it was declared a public safety hazard and was shut down,” San Francisco PD said in a statement. “Several rally participants sustained non-life-threatening-injuries. Three San Francisco Police officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries when they were assaulted with pepper spray and caustic chemicals. One officer was transported to a local hospital for treatment.”

Incidents of violence do go both ways, however. Trump supporters in Duluth, Minn., attacked a photojournalist for local station WCCO and knocked a camera from his grasp in September.