As an estimated seven million people across 2,700 municipalities peacefully demonstrated against the Trump administration at No Kings events Saturday, reports of violence have thus far been scant—except for some instances in which apparent MAGA agitators targeted the pro-democracy protesters.
One notable incident came out of Jackson Township, Ohio, where a No Kings participant’s leg was injured in a hit-and-run. Witnesses told local outlets that a man driving a white pickup truck deliberately veered onto grass where protesters were seated, hitting a 53-year-old woman, before speeding off.
“It was definitely on purpose,” said one witness in The Canton Repository. “He went up on the curb. She took a direct hit. It could have been a lot worse. She put her fist in the air and said ‘I’m all right,’ but I think she might have broken her leg.”
“He drove up the curb trying to scare us, and we all jumped back,” another witness told an independent local reporter. “Unfortunately, a woman standing close to me was hit.”
The protest continued, and local authorities are reportedly investigating the incident.
In Kent, Ohio—a 40-minute drive from Jackson Township—an alleged Trump supporter was arrested by local police after reportedly shoving a woman.
The man was initially seized by a local city councilman, Jeff Clapper, along with a group of other No Kings protesters who had witnessed the incident and heard the man was in possession of a firearm.
On social media, a Kent resident, who captured a photo of the man being held down, called him “a belligerent Trump agitator.” Clapper told the Akron Beacon Journal that he heard the individual was a Trump supporter, but emphasized that politics had “no bearing” on his actions, which were simply a reaction to seeing somebody “push a woman.”
At a No Kings event in Wilkes-Barre, Colorado, a man in a Jeep adorned with Trump flags reportedly brandished a firearm at protesters. He was subsequently taken into custody by local police.
So, while Republican lawmakers spent the days leading up to No Kings fearmongering about the protesters themselves, early reports show that MAGA troublemakers were responsible for rare instances of violence on the mass day of protest.
The post Yes, There Was Violence at No Kings Protests—From the Other Side appeared first on New Republic.
