Several Protesters Arrested Outside Conference at Middle Tennessee Park
AJ Abell, WZTV, May 18, 2019
Several Antifa supporters were arrested at Montgomery Bell State Park as they tried to stop an annual event from happening there.
The protesters were outraged that the state would allow what they called a white supremacy conference to take place in a state park.
“This is the 8th year that our state park has been turned over to Nazis and white supremacists for a conference,” said Beth Foster.
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The state can’t deny any group the right to free speech, but she feels like, by having a police barricade around the annual American Renaissance Conference, the state is denying the free speech rights to anyone who opposes that message.
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“It was completely chaos. Law enforcement started shoving people, grabbing, people started screaming. It was horrifying to me,” Will York said.
An Antifa member who threw a water bottle at a car was one of four arrested; charges ranged from disorderly conduct to assault.
Will York said he didn’t feel safe and he was disappointed because he felt like law enforcement gave the conference-goers special treatment.
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Members say they will not stop their crusade to end this type of ideology.
The conference is a three-day event. It will resume on Sunday morning and end at 11 a.m.
