No arrests were immediately made after a free speech demonstration in San Francisco turned violent when several hundred counterprotesters flooded the area and attacked the demonstrators.
“Legally permitted, peaceful, pro-police demonstrators were brutally attacked, hospitalized in San Francisco, along with 3 officers attacked but not hospitalized, yet somehow Mayor @LondonBreed @SFPD made 0 –ZERO– arrests? How is this impotence possible?” asked Federalist editor Christopher Bedford on Twitter.
Legally permitted, peaceful, pro-police demonstrators were brutally attacked, hospitalized in San Francisco, along with 3 officers attacked but not hospitalized, yet somehow Mayor @LondonBreed @SFPD made 0 –ZERO– arrests? How is this impotence possible?https://t.co/0yAN5SEaOE
— Christopher Bedford (@CBedfordDC) October 19, 2020
Multiple police officers were injured, as well as a Trump supporter who was seen being taken away in an ambulance.
The San Francisco Police Department said three of its officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries as a result of them being targeted with pepper spray and caustic chemicals. One of the officers was hospitalized and was receiving treatment for the injuries.
No arrests were made during the event, the department said at the time.
The event was organized by Team Save America, with people gathering to protest Twitter for what they said was a censoring of conservative speech. Many members in attendance wore red “Make America Great Again” hats and carried “Thin Blue Line” flags.
The event organizer, Philip Anderson, posted photos of himself on social media showing his bloody mouth with a front tooth missing. He claimed that he was attacked by anti-fascist protesters “for no reason.”
Anderson told reporters that he saw the counterprotesters as hypocrites and cited them as the reason he planned to vote for President Trump.
“I love America, I love this country, and I love free speech,” Anderson said.
Pictures captured the moment Anderson was punched by a counterprotester.
“Here’s the moment that Trump supporter Philip Anderson was sucker punched by someone in black clothing and mask, presumably Antifa,” ABC7 News reporter Dan Noyes said on Twitter. “You can see tooth flying. SFPD investigating; those tattoos are distinctive. Anderson organized free speech rally today, to protest Twitter bans.”
Here’s the moment that Trump supporter Philip Anderson was sucker punched by someone in black clothing and mask, presumably Antifa. You can see tooth flying. SFPD investigating; those tattoos are distinctive. Anderson organized free speech rally today, to protest Twitter bans. pic.twitter.com/IMdXWc8ECk
— Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) October 18, 2020
“Take a good look — you knocked a black man’s teeth out,” said Anderson.
“The violence needs to end,” he added. “It has nothing to do with Donald Trump or anyone else. It has to do with free speech.”
Anderson posted another video of himself showing one knocked-out tooth and another loose tooth.
“Joe Biden, do you still think that Antifa is ‘just an idea’?” he said in a tweet, referring to Biden’s comments on antifa during the first presidential debate last month.
The San Francisco Police Department told the Washington Examiner after publication that one suspect was taken into custody in connection to Anderson’s assault.
