Just in time for a holiday miracle, surveillance video has been released that shows Proud Boy members did start the brutal attack on protesters in Manhattan, as first reported by the New York Times.
The Proud Boys are an “alt-right” hate group that had gathered in New York City in October to attend a meeting at which their founder, Gavin McInnes, was speaking. After the meeting, some Proud Boys members brutally attacked anti-racism protesters on the street near the Metropolitan Republican Club.
Initially, the NYPD arrested only protesters and no Proud Boys in the attack. Eventually, ten Proud Boys were arrested and charged with riot and attempted assault.
Later, Proud Boys members were denied taxis and Ubers after a rally in Philadelphia, much to the amusement of people on social media. McInnes has been booted from Blaze Media and has technically quit the Proud Boys, in an effort to show jurors there’s no “head of operations” of the organization.
He did a whole video about it:
But back to this new footage. At first, footage that went viral online came from Sandi Bachom, a photojournalist who was at the scene. This new, previously unreleased footage came from a nearby building. Most importantly, it totally contradicts the Proud Boys’ assertion that they didn’t start the fight.
McInnes first touted the explanation that the protesters had thrown a plastic bottle at Proud Boys members, which prompted their attack. However, as this new footage shows, a Proud Boys member charged protesters first, and the bottle was thrown in response to their charge. As the Times reported, prosecutors will take this video as evidence that the Proud Boys started the violence.
Bachom described the scene to the Huffington Post, saying:
“It was like a war zone. The Proud Boys literally flew in from everywhere behind me, you can see in the video. Before I knew it there was a violent brawl. I was so scared my heart was pounding and I was shaking afterward. I hadn’t seen random violence like that since Charlottesville.”
So, with this new video footage, we’re getting closer to finally seeing some justice, just in time for the holiday season.