A video of a black Pennsylvania police officer punching a truculent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester at a rally against police violence is going viral on the internet.
In the video, the BLM protesters could be seen provoking and harassing the police officers, one of whom loses his cool and smacks a protester for obstructing the police from performing their duties.
As per Pittsburgh City Paper, the BLM protesters who had gathered at Saturday’s rally in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wilkinsburg started shouting at the officers who declared their protest as unlawful assembly.
The video then showed police officers trying to arrest a woman backing away and hurling obscenities, as a protester who wore a black dress pushed and shoved at them. In response to this, the officer swung a left hook at the intruding protesters, the video of which has now gone viral on social media.
The protester, who is identified as Vuestro Merced, then shouts “You’re an f-king pig”, grumbling under her breath as she is being handcuffed and led away by the officer.
In the same video, another overwrought woman could be seen screaming at the police officers, both of whom were black, that “this is what people do to fight for black people, and this is what these pigs do on the streets.”
A local reporter later shared the picture of arrested protesters to show that they were out and safe.
The BLM protesters had launched a demonstration to demand justice for Jim Rogers, a 54-year-old black man who died in October 2021 less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh police officers tased him eight times. Many protesters participated in the demonstrations to denounce Rogers’ death and demand justice for him.
The videos showed some protesters carrying a big Black Lives Matter banner in the middle of the street and chanting “One solution: revolution”, and “Pittsburgh police — enemies of the people” among other slogans.
The videos also showed police officers, who were black, being subjected to a constant barrage of abuses and invectives after they calmly asked BLM protesters to not demonstrate in the middle of the street.
For the rally organisers, ‘Justice for Jim Rogers’, the videos vindicated their stand that police were violent against their subjects. One of the organisers reportedly said that the scenes showed “clearly that those who wield violence are the police.”
“We will continue to care for one another and fight for Justice for Jim Rogers and for all victims of police brutality and anti-black violence,” the group said.
