Nearly two weeks ago, a protest at the Wi Spa in Los Angeles, California turned violent, resulting in a street preacher soaked in his own blood at the hands of Antifa.
Today, police were determined to make sure that didn’t happen again and declared an unlawful assembly after things were threatening to get out of hand yet again.
Members of the LAPD ultimately ended up clashing with the Antifa counter-protesters and even had a smoke bomb hurled towards them.
Independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager was at the protest and filmed a number of different encounters including a clash and the smoke bomb being thrown.
Gutenschwager tweeted:
“Police clash with Antifa counter-protesting at the Wi Spa, after several smoke bombs & water bottles were thrown at protesters across the street #WiSpa#LosAngeles“
“Antifa launch a smoke bomb at police, who bat it away as they separate opposing groups outside the Wi Spa in Los Angeles #WiSpa #LA.”
Police clash with Antifa counter-protesting at the Wi Spa, after several smoke bombs & water bottles were thrown at protesters across the street #WiSpa #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/fRoXWtmAng
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 17, 2021Antifa launch a smoke bomb at police, who bat it away as they separate opposing groups outside the Wi Spa in Los Angeles #WiSpa #LA pic.twitter.com/1dHQb1Kpud
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 17, 2021
Newsweek also reported on the protest, but they put a different spin on the situation, as they essentially blamed the Proud Boys, who were protesting, for the trouble.
They reported that in one clip, a Proud Boys member can be seen allegedly pepper-spraying an unarmed woman who they claimed was just attempting to ask them questions.
In Newsweek’s version of the events that have occurred in recent weeks, they attempt to label those who are attempting to hold the business accountable for what was an unprovoked incident as the ones in the wrong.
From Newsweek:
Wi Spa drew the ire of far-right elements after a video of a woman’s encounter with the business’ staff went viral on social media. In the clip, which had been viewed over 131,000 times on Instagram as of July 4, the woman complains about the presence of a transgender woman in the women’s changing area and makes several transphobic comments.
Wi Spa, for its part, stood behind its policies for transgender clients.
“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the company said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.”
“California law prohibits discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming people in business establishments,” an attorney representing Wi Spa said in another statement.
This incident began to draw right-wing protests to the spa, including numerous individuals and groups associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory. During a July 3 protest, individuals were seen wearing shirts and carrying signs expressing common QAnon talking points, beliefs, and slogans. Others wore shirts wrongly conflating transgenderism with pedophilia, a common transphobic tactic.
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