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something happened tonight at the las vegas protest that isn’t sitting right with me, so for everyone’s safety i want to bring some attention to it. (possible sex trafficking attempt)
**a thread**
**a thread**
at this point in the night, we were stopped at a large intersection on the strip with the police lined up on one side and the protesters on the other. the police were announcing over a speaker that if we didn’t leave, we’d be arrested, and the protesters were yelling back
there was a man behind me with a very large expensive camera around his neck. however, he wasn’t filming any of the protest. or protesting at all for that matter. after watching him eye a couple of girls that walked by, i started keeping tabs on him.
a couple walked by and the woman was wearing a very low cut top. i watched this man stare at her chest, then look at the man she was with and say something along the lines of “what’s up man? nice night huh?” which rubbed me the wrong way.
at this point, i was paying a good amount of attention to this man for my own safety. his presence was making me pretty uncomfortable. keep in mind, he still hasn’t used his camera to film any of the protest, and he hasn’t really been protesting either.
this is where things got weird. a group of three teenage girls (probably younger than me) walk by. they don’t appear to be protesting at all. no masks, no signs, they seemed to be walking pretty casually down the sidewalk, until he stops them.
he asked them if they wanted to be interviewed about the protest. they all hesitated and i could immediately tell that they were uncomfortable. something in my gut made me blurt out “do not consent to being on video right now”
they all look over and i continued with something along the lines of “now is not the time to be recognized. cops can use these videos to find you and target you.” and the man immediately starts walking away. the girls walked over to me.
as he’s walking away, he’s muttering a bunch of shit about how i’m wrong and stupid. to which i loudly said “six black men who were associated with the ferguson protests were murdered. the police can and will use any evidence to target you.”
to which this man, this black man mind you, replies, “bullshit. that’s bullshit.” i said “that’s not bullshit, it’s facts.” but by that point, everyone around us was looking and i didn’t want to start anything so i shut up and he continued to walk away.
the girls came up to me and one of them said “you’re really smart, i didn’t even think of that. i didn’t want to be interviewed anyway, he was making me uncomfortable.” meanwhile, this man is suddenly being all buddy buddy with the actual protesters.
i couldn’t make out exactly what he said, but i could overhear him going up to people and basically bitching about how i’m wrong and stupid etc.
the reason this sits so wrong with me is because this man didn’t ask a single person who was actually protesting to be interviewed. he only chose to ask this small group of young girls. telling them “come on, it’ll only take a minute”
from my perspective, it seemed like he was trying to lure them away from the crowd, and the thought of why he’d do that is what scares me. las vegas has a shit ton of sex trafficking, and i know i could be overreacting but the whole situation seemed so off.
not to mention, suddenly being all buddy buddy with the protesters the minute i called him out loudly. trying to blend back in with the people he didn’t even bother interviewing or filming in the first place.
of course, i could be overreacting but come on. with all of the police busy dealing with the protest, it’s a perfect time for sex traffickers to silently snatch up vulnerable young people.
for fucks sake, i watched someone speed through a red light in the intersection we were in and the cops did nothing because they were too busy standing in a line to block us from going anywhere. they aren’t protecting us and evil people are going to use that to their advantage.
so whether i’m overreacting or not, please do not put this past people. sex trafficking is a huge issue that often goes unnoticed. if you’re going to a protest, stay aware of your surroundings and try to avoid going alone if you can. please stay safe. 
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