Police attack BLM protesters on day Trump nominates Amy Coney Barret for high court

Video of the police attack on BLM marchers 1 min 39 sec

The 26th of September was an ugly and violent day in DC. Hours after Trump announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barret to the Supreme Court, bike cops violently attacked the They/Them FTP march (3 arrests), and followed up on that with a 4th arrest on Black Lives Matter Plaza. Earlier an estimated 30,000 theocrats supporting Amy Coney Barret rallied on the Mall, and at one point burned a BLM flag.

The mess at the They/Them march could have been much worse were it not for the valient efforts of the bicycle cavalry blocks, who ensured cops could not casually enter the march and pick off whoever they wanted. As the march began, a very large number of bike cops shadowed it from behind as light rain began to fall. Soon the march went up 17th st and protesters began reading some facts of life pertaining police brutality against Black and Brown people to outdoor diners, plus reminding diners on this GLBTQ area (well mostly white Gay men), that "Stonewall was a riot."

Shortly thereafter bike cops pounced up the left side sidewalk and made one violent arrest. Once protesters successfully disengaged from that scene, bike cops started positioning themsevles immediately behind the rear bike cavalry bloc defending the back of the march. Then the cops attacked again, getting off their bikes and each cop picking up their bike in both hands, facing them laterally to the march. The bike cavalry bloc stopped and made an overlapping bike fence, which normally would cause the cops to stop.

This time, the cops pushed right into the bikers, chanting "MOVE BACK" at the top of their lungs. This appeared to be an attempt to cause the bike line to collapse, at which point cops would be able to single out individual bikers, swarm on them and arrest them on real or ficticious charges. The bike line gave ground but held together, preventing a swarm of arrests followed by uncontrolled cop access to the rest of the march. Later on, cops managed to make two more arrests, infuriating the protesters, who now changed "MOVE BACK" back at the cops while still holding together. At this point, even if protesters could defend themselves Bowser and Newsham could throw hundreds or even thousands more cops into the fight. If protesters also called for backup they would get fewer people responding and likely later. The decision was presumably made at this point to call off the march, avoidng the race to reinforce.

The march was reported to have dispersed at this point, but people soon began building up at Black Lives Matter Plaza for an all-night sit-in, rain or not. Some suggested this was safer than attempting to walk home with all those pigs prowling the area looking for targets to pick off. It was not to be: cops arrested yet another person at Black Lives Matter Plaza. Of the four arrests, one was reported to be an uninvolved bystander. One arrestee was reported released, possibly this person but NOT confirmed as such. Charges on the others unknown. It has also been reported that US Attorney General Bob Barr intervened personally to file new charges against a few people who were arrested in the August kettles only to have their charges dropped. Things are getting very ugly.

One literal bright spot was the successful projection of pro-healthcare (this includes abortion) and anti-Barret messages on the sides of Trump Hotel. Amy Coney Barrett is a militantly anti-abortion "conservative Catholic" and also has written in oppositon to "stare decisis" the practice of giving great weight to prior similar decisions by the Supreme Court