DIVIDED COMMUNITY

Counterprotesters Overrun Tiny Ohio Town’s Black Lives Matter Demonstration

The crowd of 80 demonstrators were met by about 700 counterprotesters who arrived from out of town with weapons.

Black Lives Matter demonstrators in a tiny Ohio town were met with hundreds of armed counterprotesters Sunday. The small demonstration of about 80 people, organized by Bethel resident Alicia Gee, was dwarfed by about 700 counterprotesters. The counterprotesters— motorcycle gang members, Second Amendment activists and “back the blue” groups— arrived from out of town with rifles, baseball bats and clubs, apparently to incite violence against the Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Police are investigating about 10 incidents from the Sunday protests. The town’s mayor imposed a curfew on Monday evening following the violence. “Our purpose was not to create division in our community, and right now, that division has been just exploded,” Gee said.