By Aaron Miller-
Anti police-brutality protesters have been confronted by armed men in America cities, where they were driving vehicles at crowds they perceives to be overstepping the boundaries. The scenes have been horrific to say the least.
In other cases, terror has been sparked by armed men claiming they have come to help anti-racism demonstrations.
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On Sunday, in Seattle, a man drove at speed towards protesters, while several protesters tried to slow or stop the vehicle.
U.S and U.K journalists have been keeping close tabs on the scenes, with both louts and members of the public often negotiating deals for news information. Some serious arguments have even followed disagreements on the terms of deals, even when waiting for independent verification of information provided.
One confirmed case involved a man who reached through a car window and was shot in the arm by the driver. The driver left the vehicle carrying a handgun, and eventually surrendered to police.
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In Upland California on June 1, a man pulled an AR-15 from his truck and brandished it at protesters, and was subsequently arrested.
In Boise, Idaho, on 1 June, two armed men disguised with skull masks similar to those used by some neo-Nazi groups counter-protested a local Black Lives Matter March.
One of the men, Michael Wallace, 19, was later arrested after what police were investigating as an accidental discharge of his weapon.
In Salt Lake City on 31 May, a man was arrested after threatening a crowd of protesters with a hunting bow.
Three former armed servicemen associated with the movement were arrested and charged over an alleged plot aimed at vital national infrastructure. The entire subculture is strongly opposed to the police and government agencies that restrict their access to firearms.
Some members of the boogaloo movement have shown up armed to protect stores from protesters, but others have been sympathetic with themn Lakeside, Virginia, an armed man named Harry “Skip” Rogers, was arrested on charges of assault and battery after he allegedly drove his truck at protesters, hitting a cyclist.
Rogers, reportedly an organiser for the National Association for Awakening Confederate Patriots, carried out a one-man protest in 2016 wearing Ku Klux Klan robes, and was also part of the Unite the Right demonstration in Charlottesville in 2017, where protestor Heather Heyer was murdered in a vehicular homicide.
Two days after Unite the Right, according to photographs and accounts of activists, Rogers was bloodied in an altercation that took place when he attempted to disrupt a memorial rally for Heyer, while wearing a shirt with KKK and Confederate flag patches.
On 29 May in Bakersfield, California and day before in Denver. On 30 May an armed man pulled a gun before driving through a crowd in Gainesville, Florida.
In Minneapolis, a man in a semi-trailer truck parted the crowd on an overpass when he drove towards them.
In McAllen, Texas, last Friday, a lone man threatened Black Lives Matter protesters with a running chainsaw, first screaming “go home” before shouting racial slurs.
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