Name: Clash of protesters puts national spotlight on small southern Ohio town of Bethel
Brand: cleveland.com
SKU: cleveland-com-75
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Clash of protesters puts national spotlight on small southern Ohio town of Bethel

preview

NEW!3,502sharesBETHEL, Ohio — A small town in southern Ohio is trying to recover after a Black Lives Matter protest was met with hundreds of counter-protesters, some armed with firearms and other weapons and shouting racial slurs, bringing an unwelcome spotlight to the town.A video from Sunday’s protest posted on social media that has since gone viral shows a lone man surrounded by counter-protesters. He is struck in the back of the head by one of the counter-protesters with a police officer nearby, but no arrest was made. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and questioned why police didn’t respond immediately:A peaceful protester in Bethel, Ohio was sucker-punched in the head right in front of police officers – and they did nothing about it. These officers’ inaction is shameful. This is why we need the Justice in Policing Act - to hold police accountable. — Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) Bethel Police Chief Steve Teague condemned the violence from Sunday’s protest, but that his small department, which has six officers, were overwhelmed by the large number of counter-protesters who arrived. He said the counter-protesters were motorcycle gangs, Second Amendment advocates and “Back the Blue” groups and that many were armed with firearms and baseball bats.“That’s what we allow around here, unfortunately,” Teague tells WCPO. “You know, it’s their right to do it, and it’s a little scary for us, too, because I’ll be quite honest with you, we were outnumbered many times with people having more weapons than the officers do.”The person struck in the head initially declined to press charges, but has since changed his mind, the . Police have identified the man seen in the video striking the victim and an arrest warrant was to be issued Tuesday night, reports say.The Sunday’s Black Lives Matter protest had been planned by Alicia Gee, a Bethel resident. She informed city officials of her plans and about 80 people were expected. What wasn’t expected was the estimated 700 counter-protesters.Videos posted online show several tense confrontations during Sunday’s protest, and many counter-protesters can be heard yelling racial slurs. Bethel police say they’re investigating 10 “incidents," the Post reports.The city has enacted a curfew after confrontations again erupted on Monday, and Gee says she has no plans to hold another protest in the near future. No one was arrested Sunday, but there were five arrests Monday, reports say.“We already saw the violence and we experienced the violence against ourselves on Sunday,” Gee tells WCPO. “We didn’t need that and I don’t want anyone else to have to experience that.” attempts are being made to get those with opposing views to talk rationally about their disagreements. But even city officials have different views on the clashes, according to the Enquirer, with one councilman, Bryan Coogan, thanking Second Amendment groups for “preventing the chaos that could have prevailed.”Bethel Mayor Jay Noble called some of the behavior “appalling and disgusting" and said it paints an inaccurate picture of Bethel, which has about 2,800 residents.Another councilman, Ron Dunn, wants city leaders to issue a statement condemning what happened on Sunday, the Enquirer reports. He credited Black Lives Matters protesters for showing restraint.“To have such hatred and filthy things spewed at you and just to take it is very foreign to most people,” Dunn said.Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!3,502sharesBETHEL, Ohio — A small town in southern Ohio is trying to recover after a Black Lives Matter protest was met with hundreds of counter-protesters, some armed with firearms and other weapons and shouting racial slurs, bringing an unwelcome spotlight to the town.A video from Sunday’s protest posted on social media that has since gone viral shows a lone man surrounded by counter-protesters. He is struck in the back of the head by one of the counter-protesters with a police officer nearby, but no arrest was made. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and questioned why police didn’t...

public

Cliff Pinckard

Breaking news, sports and entertainment from across Northeast Ohio.

cleveland.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

Clash of protesters puts national spotlight on small southern Ohio town of Bethel

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS