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Counter-Protesters Attacked at NYC Rally by John S. Pappas – 03/21/04 Updated 10:20PM New York, New York Counter-protesters were shoved, punched, and kicked Saturday by security members of the group International A.N.S.W.E.R. who organized Saturday’s anti-war rally in New York City and around the world. Witnesses report seeing six counter-protesters assaulted, which included five males and one female. The counter-protesters, affiliated with the group ProtestWarrior.com, appeared at Madison Park to counter-protest the group International A.N.S.W.E.R. and to show support for United States actions in Iraq. International A.N.S.W.E.R. organized anti-war rallies throughout the world yesterday close to the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Police initially separated the two groups, but as the march progressed, counter-protesters marched parallel to the protesters. According to witnesses, security members of the International A.N.S.W.E.R. rally surrounded a group of counter-protesters and began assaulting them. “Halfway through the end of the march, we were attacked by some security badge wearing hippies (some of us were physically assaulted) and forced to the side. Many of the liberals stopped to call us Nazis’, racists, etc.,” said Levy, a counter protester from West Hartford, Connecticut who was assaulted. “I was hit, pushed and had my life threatened, the so-called "peace" protesters had anything but peace on their minds,” he said. Bonnie, also from West Hartford, Connecticut said she was walking with the counter-protesters when she noticed that people wearing badges with the word security written on them had linked arms in order to block the path of the counter-protesters. "I was able to get past the people with the linked arms and had gotten ahead of the other counter-protesters when these two grown men came up to me and started pushing me, trying to get me over to the side of the road," she said. "I don't look intimidating at all," Bonnie said, "all I was doing was carrying an American flag." Bonnie said that a policeman came to her aid, escorting her and the other counter-protesters to the side of the road and erecting barricades between the two groups. Dan, from Allentown Pennsylvania said he was also attacked, “I was attacked by 3 different people, 2 at the same time... I was also called ‘baby-killer’ throughout the day.” Witnesses describe six counter-protesters being assaulted on Madison Avenue before the police responded to separate the groups. No injuries or arrests were reported associated with the altercation. Cathy Mossholder reports on the website allahpundit.com that she observed counter-protesters being "choked right there in the middle of the street," before police showed up to disperse the attackers. There are also many reports of counter-protesters being spat on by the protesters. Similar altercations occurred in Washington D.C. in October, 2003 when ProtestWarrior.com infiltrated an International A.N.S.W.E.R. rally held to protest the occupation of Iraq. Comments: editor@johnnypnews.com © 2004 Johnny P News |
