Bear repellent sprayed into crowd rallying at pier against Trump
On Saturday, Oct. 20, a politically motivated attack occurred on the Santa Monica Pier when a man was arrested for spraying a group of Trump protesters with bear repellent. No one was seriously injured, though some were in need of medical assistance. The incident occurred in the midst of a protest by the political organization “Refuse Fascism,” which formed after the election of President Trump. It categorizes the administration as fascist and is actively supporting Trump’s impeachment. “As long as [Trump and his administration] are in power, they will continue to slam ahead unless and until they are removed from office,” their website, refusefascism.org, states. The group made its way from the beach to the pier, where they were met with a group of Trump supporters. A video that documented the incident shows the two opposing groups exchanging chants like “Trump 2020” or “Trump Pence Out Now”. After a few minutes, the encounter turned into a small scale scuffle. Suddenly, a man in a “Make America Great Again” hat pulled out a can of bear repellent and sprayed the substance into the crowd, which immediately scattered. The man then sprayed a protester lying on the ground at a close range. According to KTLA, the perpetrator had previously been convicted of burglary twice and of larceny and conspiracy once. The video shows him proclaiming his innocence as police approached him. “It’s the libtards over there, the commies. I didn’t do anything,” he said. He was charged with one count of unlawful tear gas activity at the scene and was later released on a bail of $50,000. Carl Hobkirk, an AP World History and Freshman Seminar teacher, believes that this is a result of tensions that have been rising in the face of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. Last week, Republicans in Washington D.C. tried to storm the impeachment inquiries conducted by the House Intelligence Committee. While these Republicans defended the President, Hobkirk has a different opinion. “I think that impeachment of Trump is appropriate, and I think the House [of Representatives] will vote for the Articles of Impeachment to be sent to the senate. But I’m not sure how the Republicans in the senate will vote,” Hobkirk said. The news of the incident spread fast to students like Emanuel Ebanks (’22). He first received a notification through Instagram that Saturday. “I was kind of surprised that it happened here, so close to us, but I guess it means that the impeachment thing affects the whole country,” Ebanks said. According to Santa Monica Police Department, the perpetrator violated his terms of parole, which stemmed from his earlier convictions. He appeared in an arraignment hearing at the Los Angeles County Superior Court the Tuesday following the incident.