A large pro-Trump demonstration in Beverly Hills turned violent as a group of black-clad counter-protesters harassed a man holding an American flag, punching, kicking and beating him with a metal pole, forcing police to intervene.
The incident apparently began when a person wearing a helmet with ACAB painted on the side tried to take the flag from one of the Trump supporters, according to a video posted on Twitter by photographer Shane Murphy. Ironically, although the man was beaten and kicked by at least half a dozen counter-protesters, police had to pull him off one of the assailants after dispersing the other attackers.
The overall scale of the pro-Trump rally on Saturday could be seen with an aerial view shared by Beverly Hills Courier reporter Samuel Braslow. Some of the demonstrators showed up three hours early, and the crowd spilled onto Santa Monica Boulevard as it grew, Braslow said. Beverly Hills police directed a line of traffic through an open lane in the crowd at one point.
Police then closed off the street to traffic. When counter-protesters arrived, police in riot gear formed a line blocking them. Once violence flared, police declared the counter-protest an unlawful assembly.
The counter-protesters moved a line of temporary fence sections in front of the line of police but apparently walked back toward Roxbury Park once officers moved toward them.
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