Last Friday, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes made an appearance at the Metropolitan Republican Club, home to the statewide New York Republican Party and the Manhattan Republican Party. The building was vandalized with anarchist symbols and windows were broken.
Initially, three people were charged with assault in connection with a fight that broke out a few blocks from the venue between protesters and Proud Boys.
That night, no Proud Boys were arrested, only anti-fascist protesters. The NYPD said that they would review video and evidence, try to identify more perpetrators, and make arrests as warranted.
On Monday, after an outcry from citizens and city leaders, the NYPD announced that they had enough evidence to charge nine members of the Proud Boys with rioting, assault, and attempted assault. As of Tuesday, they are still looking for those nine individuals.
Footage of the riot shows that members of the right-wing group assaulted and shouted homophobic slurs at protesters after the event. Members were also shouting references to Brett Kavanaugh’s love of beer.
One Proud Boy member bragged about kicking a “foreigner” in the head. Three anti-fascist protesters took a MAGA hat off a Proud Boy’s head.
Photographer Shay Horse who was at the protest tweeted that he hadn’t “seen a fight that violent in a long time” and that the Proud Boys were willing to be violent and showed their faces. He told Buzzfeed News that 30 Proud Boys came out grunting and the police did not ask the crowd to disperse.
In a video taken by freelance reporter Sandi Bachom, a police officer is seen looking like a deer in headlights, doing little to break up the fight. Poorly handled. Aren’t police supposed to ensure safety?
However, the victims refused to cooperate with the police, making it difficult to investigate and find the perpetrators.
McInnes, who left the event brandishing a prop sword, claimed that Antifa were instigating the fight and justified the actions of the Proud Boys. He said on his podcast, Get Off My Lawn, “When you set up this climate of fear, you have people that are going to be aggressive, you know?”
Sounds like projection, because the Proud Boys seem to be happily contributing to a climate of fear all their own.
On a Newsmax TV appearance, McInnes said that Antifa protesters were harassing people; claimed that the media were not talking about it (a claim that can be easily refuted by doing a quick Google news search); and said that the victims were asking to be beaten up and called homophobic slurs so they could use it for their agenda.
There is a history of violence at McInnes’ events and connected to Proud Boys chapters across the country, many of the incidents occurring in the Pacific Northwest.
To get into the group, members go through a bizarre hazing process: pledging to be a “Western chauvinist,” being beaten until they can name five breakfast cereals, and getting a Proud Boy tattoo. To attain the highest Proud Boy rank, a member must “get into a physical altercation for the ‘cause.’” McInnes said that this meant beating up antifascists. They have a paramilitary wing called “Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights.” No question about it, they are a gang.
Since their formation in 2016, the Proud Boys have notably picked fights with protesters at NYU, Berkeley, Portland (on many occasions), Halifax, and at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
McInnes has regularly advocated for violence against his opponents. He has tried to disassociate himself from Nazis and the alt-right, but he has worked with racist publications like Vdare and American Renaissance. The Proud Boys are a violent hate group and the police need to crack down on them.
