Police probe BLM protesters who confronted Pittsburgh diners as Trump brands them ‘thugs’
Police in Pittsburgh have launched an investigation after video shared on social media over the weekend appeared to show Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters accosting diners at a restaurant in the city.
In footage shared on Facebook on Saturday, a small group of demonstrators could be seen shouting at people while they ate at Sienna Mercato on Penn Avenue, downtown Pittsburgh.
Video recorded on a mobile phone shows one of the group taking a drink from a patron and downing it, while another smashes a glass on a table.
Another protester can be heard saying: "F**k the white people that built the system." before adding: "F*** 12", a reference to police.
Amid the confrontation, other customers at the eatery gather their belongings and leave as the demonstrators brand them an "embarrassment".
The protesters have since said that the confrontation started after a group of men shouted "Blue Lives Matter" and swung a bike at them as they walked by. Blue Lives Matter is a reference to a countermovement in the US that emerged after BLM activists began protesting against systemic racism and police brutality.
“Even though people [at the restaurant] saw that whole thing, they still saw me as an aggressor,” Nique Craft, a protester at the demonstration, told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Cara Cruz said the force was investigating the incident but no arrests have yet been made. It is understood that enquiries are still ongoing.
Police launched a probe after footage of the confrontation was uploaded to Facebook by a user named Grace Harvey.
"We witnessed demonstrators bullying, harassing and physically assaulting random people simply walking past them or quietly enjoying a meal," Ms Harvey wrote in a message accompanying the video.
"People were shaken & scared as they ran away from their tables around us.”
In a tweet on Tuesday, president Donald Trump singled out the Pittsburgh demonstrators, calling them "thugs" as he repeated attack lines on Joe Biden while criticising the Black Lives Matter movement.
"BLM Protesters horribly harass elderly Pittsburgh diners, scaring them with loud taunts while taking their food right off their plate," the president wrote.
"These Anarchists, not protesters, are Biden voters, but he has no control and nothing to say. Disgraceful. Never seen anything like it. Thugs!"
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