Latest news with #HandsOff!MassMobilization
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Man arrested in Lafayette anti-Trump rally says he was defending woman, but politics irrelevant
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The West Lafayette man arrested for headbutting a man at an anti-Trump rally Saturday says he has no regrets but believes he should not face formal charges, because he was merely defending another protester. Jeremy Marks, 36, said in an interview Monday that he did not expect to find himself in a social media firestorm after going with his fiancee to the protest, part of the national "Hands Off! Mass Mobilization" movement involving cities around the country. It has been estimated that nearly 1,000 people attended the Tippecanoe County event. His fiancee, Leslie Glossic, said she attended the rally to address Palestinian issues. But Marks said he went along just to support Glossic. "I can give two f---s about politics," he said. 'Jeremy did not get involved with this man because he was a Trump supporter," Glossic agreed Monday. "He intervened because of the behavior he was showing as a human." A Journal & Courier video shows the altercation involving Marks and the other man now identified by Lafayette police Sgt. Shawn Verma as James Jordan, 43, of Lafayette. Allegedly angry because a stream of protesters were crossing Third Street, preventing him from turning onto the street, Jordan left his truck and can be seen in the video confronting protesters. In the video, Marks and Jordan are arguing before Marks headbutts him, leaving Jordan with a bloody nose. Jordan returns to his truck, which he parked in traffic on Columbia Street, and returns to the crowd of protesters in front of the courthouse with what looks like an assault rifle. Glossic said it was only about five minutes after they arrived at the protest when Jordan exited his truck, setting off the chain of events. 'I heard a bunch of commotion and I looked up and I see some guy getting out his truck,' Marks said Monday. 'I seen him walk up to the crossing guards … I seen him put his hands on an older lady.' Marks and Jordan yelled at each other before Nate Ault, a helper with the protest, put hands on the back of Marks' shoulders. Shortly after Ault touches Marks, he headbutted Jordan. 'I know people have my arms and I just, I just lost it and just headbutted,' he said. 'I didn't do it for no other reason but for that old lady. He shouldn't (have) put his hands on that old lady.' Asked whether he regretted hitting Jordan, Marks replied, 'Not at all,' because 'he put his hands on that woman.' Near the end of the video, Jordan is seen walking north down Third Street with his rifle and his nose bloodied, yelling at protesters. Eyewitnesses including Glossic said they saw Jordan weaving through the crowd with the rifle. Marks said that looking back at the video, he thought Jordan was going to shoot him, so he backed away into the crowd. '(Jordan) saw (Marks leaving) and tried to follow him into the crowd, at which point Nate (Ault) and Erika (Allen, an organizer) tried to stop him, and I saw him point the gun right at Nate's stomach,' Glossic said. 'He had pointed it at his stomach so that he would try to, you know, he didn't want (Ault) stopping him. That's how he was able to get into the crowd.' Ault said Saturday that the gun was pointed at his stomach. Lafayette police handcuffed Jordan and drove him away in a police cruiser. But police later released him, saying they determined he had not threatened or pointed his gun at anyone and had retrieved the gun to defend himself. Verma said Monday police are still gathering information about whether Jordan intimidated others at the protest. 'LPD has cameras downtown and to verify what he was telling when detained. In those video footages, the officers on scene advised the truck driver had a green light,' Verma said Monday. 'Now, there is some talk that he may have had a green light but was the pedestrian walk signal still going? We can't see if it was still on.' Glossic said it was. '(Jordan is) stating that they waited several light cycles and nobody moved. That's not true," she said. "The walking light was counting down when (Jordan) was trying to turn right. He did not have the right of way.' After Marks saw the video of the headbutt on social media later Saturday, he said he knew he'd be arrested. 'I wasn't surprised. I knew it was a matter of time before the police were going to come get me,' he said. 'The police know me; they know me by face.' He was arrested from his home about 7 p.m. Saturday, he said, on a preliminary battery charge. He bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail. He said he was in legal trouble "a couple of years ago, but that's all behind me," he said. "It's all done and over with, in the past." The day after the protest, Stacey Bogan, one of the protest organizers, started a GoFundMe to help pay legal fees for Marks. But by Monday, it had vanished. Glossic said donations had reached nearly $15,000. 'We're sending you this message to tell you that, after further review, your GoFundMe account was removed because it violates our Terms of Service … specifically, the content of your fundraiser falls under our 'Prohibited Conduct' section,' an email from GoFundMe reads. The email said all donations made to the fundraiser that weren't already transferred to the bank account on file would be refunded. Glossic said none of the money was transferred to them. Meanwhile, Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington thanked the public for forwarding more information in Saturday's events to his office and to police. He said in a news release Monday afternoon that when the investigation is complete, "we will meet with LPD to review the evidence." This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Man arrested in Lafayette anti-Trump rally says he was defending woman
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bloodied Trump Fan Pulls AR-Style Rifle in Anti-MAGA Clash at ‘Hands Off' Rally
A Trump supporter brandished an AR-style rifle during a clash with an anti-Trump protestor at a 'Hands Off' rally in Indiana on Saturday. In several social media clips, a man clad in a grey MAGA hoodie and white hat appears to exit his vehicle to confront another man in a crowd chanting, 'Protect the Constitution!' As spectators and the Trump fan's passengers—one identifying themselves as his wife—filmed the standoff, others attempted to pull the men apart. Unrelenting, the two men continued to scream in each other's faces until the Trump supporter suffered a headbutt to the nose. Backing away after the hit, the Trump fan pulled an AR-style rifle from his car and went back to confront the man. He tells passengers to call 911 as he touches his bleeding nose. Clips of the bust-up ignited a flood of social media comments on X as users took sides. 'Felony menacing right there. Clear as day,' one wrote. Another added, 'He was assaulted. He would have had every right to …' The Journal & Courier reported that the Trump fan brandishing the AR-style rifle was arrested and later released after police determined he acted in self-defense. According to eyewitnesses, the man became enraged after he was blocked from turning at an intersection by a crowd of protestors. It was at that moment that he jumped out of his car and went to confront the protestors, the Journal & Courier reported. The Lafayette, Indiana, protest was one of thousands of anti-Trump protests held across the United States and Europe as part of the 'Hands Off! Mass Mobilization' movement, Reuters reported. The protests are calling for a stop to President Donald Trump's massive government overhaul, directed by Elon Musk's DOGE, which has left thousands of federal workers out of work, reported Reuters.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lafayette police: Send us your videos, other information from Saturday's anti-Trump rally
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Lafayette police are calling on the public to provide more information about the Saturday incident that ended with a man pulling out an assault rifle near the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The man, who has not been charged with a crime, parked and exited his vehicle on 3rd Street about noon Saturday, approaching and yelling at protesters for blocking the road, according to eyewitnesses that day and a video recorded by the Lafayette Journal & Courier. As he continued to shout, a man in a black sweatshirt drew near to the man who left his truck and allegedly head-butted him, causing his nose to bleed. 'Officers arrived on scene following reports of a verbal altercation between a protest participant and a passing motorist,' police said in a news release Sunday. 'Witnesses stated that the exchange escalated when the protester made physical contact with the motorist, who then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and walked through the protest area.' Lafayette police determined in their initial findings 'the firearm was not knowingly and intentionally' pointed at anyone, and 'the presence of a firearm in a tense, crowded public space understandably caused alarm amongst community members.' But Nick Ault, a helper with the event, told the Journal & Courier the gun was pointed at his stomach at one point during the protest in downtown Lafayette. 'I was OK until I realized he pointed the gun at my husband. In that moment, I started panicking for a half-second,' Erika Allen, event organizer and Ault's wife, said Saturday. 'I said to (the man with the gun), 'That's my husband. Don't point the gun at him. Please put it down.' When the police officer told me he didn't believe me, that's when I got really upset.' The man was initially detained but was released after Lafayette police determined that he did not, that he instead retrieved the gun in self-defense. On Sunday, during continuing unrest on social media sites, Lafayette police released the statement saying they are continuing to review video and other evidence of the event. 'The investigation remains ongoing, and LPD urges individuals who directly witnessed the incident or have firsthand information to come forward,' the release said. Meanwhile, an organizer of Saturday's rally, Stacy Bogan, created a gofundme site to raise money for legal fees for the man police arrested for head-butting the man with the gun. Jeremy Marks, 36, was arrested on a preliminary battery charge and bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail. "Help Jeremy Cover Legal Fees" has raise $9,400 as of 7 p.m. Sunday. Readers can provide videos to the Lafayette police at Estimates were that nearly 1,000 people showed up Saturday at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse as part of the national "Hands Off! Mass Mobilization" movement involving cities around the country. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette police: Send us videos, info from Saturday's anti-Trump rally
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Greenup County will be site of protest on Saturday
ASHLAND Several groups in the region are planning a protest on Saturday about a variety of concerns in the United States. One will be at the Taco Bell parking lot in Russell and it's being organized by the Greenup County Democratic Women. Patricia Metz Stevens, president of the group, said several issues will be highlighted, including the dismantling of the government, the Department of Education, SNAP programs, unions, Medicaid and closing government facilities. 'It's about things that concern our people right here in our area,' Stevens said. One of those concerns: The proposed closure of the Social Security Administration office in Portsmouth, Ohio, which the Department of Government Efficiency claims will save $92,317. Also on the list of Social Security offices to close are the ones in Hazard, Ky.; Mansfield, Ohio; and in Logan, 'Democracy as we know it is being jeopardized,' Stevens said. 'It's frightening. ... Everything we have been reading is what we're concerned about.' Stevens said anyone with concerns about the government is welcome to join the demonstration, planned for 1 to 3 p.m. Many will carry signs expressing the concern that's most pressing to them. Grassroots protests also are planned for Louisville, Morehead, Danville, Lexington, Frankfort, Florence, Paducah, Franklin and Owensboro in Kentucky; Huntington, Charleston, Charles Town, Wheeling and Lewisburg in West Virginia; and at least 24 cities in Ohio. In fact, cities all over the world will be sites for protests. Hundreds of rallies, marches and protests from Alaska to Hawaii to Northern Maine to Southeast Florida — plus four overseas — will bring hundreds of thousands into the streets to, as organizers put it, 'Stop the MAGA Assault on our country and our Constitution.' Some of the organizers are the Women's March, Public Citizen, the Progressive Democrats of America, Indivisible and local unions. The Greenup event is part of Hands Off! Mass Mobilization. The website is Progressive Democrats of America chief Alan Minsky said protests will continue. One is planned for Tuesday, when Trump Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a GOP donor who's been given the assignment to destroy her department, visits San Diego three days later. 'We need a progressive force inside the Democratic Party' to take it over and take control from the D.C.-based corporate Democrats, their campaign consultants and their lobbyists, Minsky told 450 activists on a Zoom call this week.
