A group called Freedom Neighborhood organized a gathering that was supposed to end in the statue—featuring former President Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave and paid for by freed slaves—on the ground.
At one point, Harvard University student Glenn Foster, who organized the rally, shouted: “We’re going to tear that [expletive] down!”
The situation devolved when part of the group, primarily individuals dressed like members of Antifa’s black bloc, attacked reporters, including the Daily Caller’s Vincent Shkreli and One America News Network’s Jack Posobiec.
Posobiec said on social media that he filed a police report. Video footage showed him being assaulted while filming the rally.
Protesters later marched away from the statue and blocked traffic as they walked through city streets.
Protecting Statues
The success at preventing the Emancipation Statue from being torn down comes amid efforts from the Trump administration to protect monuments.“President Trump will not tolerate the rampant violence and destruction that has occurred over the last five weeks,” a White House statement announcing the executive order reads.
Attorney General William Barr also late Friday said he created a task force dedicated to countering violent anti-government extremists.
“We have evidence that anti-government violent extremists—including those who support the ‘Boogaloo,’ those who self-identify as Antifa, and others—will pose continuing threats of lawlessness,” Barr said in a memo to high-level Department of Justice officials.
Some of the extremists may be fortified by foreign entities, he added, writing, “The Department of Justice will respond to these violent groups in the same way we respond to other organized criminal or terrorist networks—by disrupting their violent activities and ultimately dismantling their capability to threaten the rule of law.”
