Authoritarianism
Police Threaten To Arrest Reporter After He Was Assaulted By White Mob Carrying Bats, Guns In Philly
Dozens of armed vigilantes gathered in Marconi Plaza in South Philadelphia near a Christopher Columbus statue on Saturday evening to “protect it” from vandalism.
A reporter from Unicorn Riot, a non-profit media organization dedicated “to exposing root causes of dynamic social and environmental issues,” was assaulted by several of the men on the scene who also slashed his bike tires.
The reporter, Chris Schiano, was quickly surrounded by angry knife and bat-wielding residents who seemed eager for a confrontation. According to video taken by Unicorn Riot, one man attending Saturday’s gathering could be “seen holding a gun appeared to have a military-style patch which read ‘Semper Tyranus,’ potentially in reference to John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Abraham Lincoln.”
After a few minutes, one of the men in the group can be seen on video grabbing Schiano’s arm as the crowd grew increasingly hostile.
When Schiano offers to the show the group his business card identifying himself as a journalist, a man in a red shirt carrying a baseball bat walks up and appears to slap at his phone, nearly knocking it out of his hand.
“This guy just hit me in the head,” the reporter says moments later as he’s attacked by another man.
A man in a cut-off red shirt can be seen walking up and grabbing Schiano’s front bicycle tire and dragging it toward the street.
A scuffle ensues and ends with a man slashing the tires of his bicycle with what appears to be a pocket knife.
Racist vigilantes gathering with bats and guns at the statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Square in South Philadelphia, some of them just assaulted our reporter pic.twitter.com/kvUn9dLTaV
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 14, 2020
Philadelphia police, who had been standing nearby, finally arrive on the scene to push back the angry mob who can be heard saying they are their to protect their “heritage.”
After several minutes passed, Captain Louis Campione of the Philadelphia Police Department barred Schiano from continuing to report on scene, claiming that he was “inciting a riot,” while appearing to ignore the assault that took place minutes earlier.
We are no longer able to document the ongoing, escalating Marconi Plaza South Philadelphia vigilante incident after @PhillyPolice ordered us to leave or be arrested. We were told we no longer had the right to document this event. pic.twitter.com/U6kRm7owXl
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 14, 2020
Shortly before the reporter was threatened with arrest, the crowd erupted into cheers when a man unveiled a Trump 2020 flag and began waving it above his head.
“Police were also shaking hands with some of the white vigilantes as this was happening,” Schiano reported.
Shortly before @PhillyPolice ordered us to cease our on-site reporting under threat of arrest, the crowd was cheering as a man with a Trump 2020 flag arrived.
Police were also shaking hands with some of the white vigilantes as this was happening. pic.twitter.com/zRIz8au8aq
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 14, 2020
Going back over our footage and stills of this incident – we observed at least 2-3 open carried long rifles, and overheard that many present were concealed carrying.
Some showed up with improvised weapons, like this man who was standing alone with a golf club. pic.twitter.com/yqSE4AAxXK
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 14, 2020
More agitated white men with bats and sticks are continuing to arrive at Marconi Plaza outside the Columbus statue. Philly Police faced some backlash recently after they appeared to tolerate and endorse similar activity in Fishtown on the north end of the city recently. pic.twitter.com/MSVmk7yL6Z
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) June 14, 2020
