The mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, on Wednesday condemned protesters who harassed diners refusing to raise fists alongside Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors.
“What I saw in those videos was highly inappropriate,” Bowser noted, according to Washington Post reporter Fenit Nirappil. “It was likely against the law if they were on private property but more importantly, I don’t think it had anything to do with demands for social justice.”
"We would encourage any diner or restaurant to call the police immediately," the mayor stated, adding that DC residents will not be "bullied out of living their everyday lives".
A video emerged on Tuesday, posted by Washington Post writer Frederick Kunkle, showing BLM demonstrators approaching diners eating outside of DC restaurants, shouting “white silence is violence” and demanding a show of support with raised fists.
In one video, which later went viral, people who did not respond to the demands of the protesters for solidarity resulted in a protester asking: “Are you a Christian?”.
While nearby customers raised fists, the man and woman ignored the demands. The protesters cursed at them and demanded they make the gesture, with one participant appearing to refer to the man as a “pasty piece of sh*t".
New anti-racism protests struck the country on Sunday after white police shoot a 29-year-old black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 7 times in the back, reportedly paralyzing him from the waist down.
A video of the incident emerged, showing police attempting to arrest Blake before he turned around and headed toward the driver’s side door of his automobile. Officers then fired multiple shots into his back.