I’m pretty shocked to find that partisans after a brawl blame the other side for unseemly behavior. Who would have thought?
I’m thunderstruck. I’m shaking at the knees. Can I come again please?
A physician based in L.A., who requested anonymity because he fears reprisals, worked as a medic during Sunday’s protest outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood. During the hours-long melee, in which violent clashes broke out between pro-Palestinian supporters and pro-Israel counterprotesters, he said he treated at least 11 people, whose injuries ranged from chest pain and shortness of breath from inhaling pepper spray to a fractured arm.
“This was probably the scariest protest I’ve been to,” he said. “It was very apparent that our police weren’t there to protect us and that any acts of violence that occurred in front of them wouldn’t be met with consequences.”
…He said he treated at least 11 protesters during the violence that ensued, including seven who had been pepper-sprayed. One woman was sprayed three times in the face as she chanted through a megaphone, he said. He said he treated another person who complained of chest pain and shortness of breath after inhaling pepper spray. Another person’s right arm was fractured after being struck by a police baton, he said.
Three people came to him with bruising, he said: One was hit on the cheekbone by a counterprotester, another was punched in the chin and the third was struck in the right forearm. One protester was pushed to the ground and beaten on his back with wooden sticks, he said.
“There were a lot of people struggling to stay safe,” the medic said. “I was not only treating acute injuries but talking to the organizers and reminding them that it was no longer a productive and safe action and an escape plan needed to be initiated.”
I saw far more people interested in brawling that in struggling to stay safe. If you wanted safety, why were you anywhere near the fight?
Most people at the brawl were having a ball. They were thunderstruck. They were shaking at their knees. They wanted to come again, please.
Everyone who has anything to lose and speaks about the event does it in the most sorrowful terms. The pronouncements are phony.
