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If you're just hearing about Proud Boys for the first time tonight, after Trump asked them and other rightwing militias to "stand by," there's some local context you should know. Proud boys are frequently protected and weaponized by the Seattle Police Department. 1/
Particularly in the past few months, Proud Boys have shown up to antagonize BLM protesters, they've attacked people outside of CHOP, driven around without license plates, assaulted protesters *outside a pro-police rally*, and done it all without any reaction from Seattle Police.
Here they are assaulting a photographer and breaking his phone outside CHOP back in June. This clip spread across the entire internet and despite the fact all these people are well known to Seattle Police there was never any response from the department. https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1272742555700957191?s=20
We later found out that the van had been driving around the area without plates for at least 24 hours, and that Seattle Police knew about it. https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1273063993666465796?s=20
In fact, one of the men in the video showed up to a pro-police rally at City Hall, surrounded by hundreds of law enforcement officers, and was never stopped. https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1292676394787405825?s=20
At that same event, he was recorded assaulting a protester. This footage was broadcast on KOMO. Still no reaction from any of the officers in attendance that day, or from the Seattle Police Department since then.
Proud Boys were also the subject of a hoax carried out by Seattle Police the night they abandoned the East Precinct. They used the threat of a Proud Boy rally to stoke racial tensions and terrorize protesters, who they had abused for more than a week. https://twitter.com/spekulation/status/1270900664822951936?s=20
I'm telling you this because when Trump eventually gives the order to commit violence, they will be protected by the Seattle Police Department. It's probably like that in most jurisdictions across the country. The threat isn't just Trump's feds. It's all of law enforcement.
