Right-wing activist protests Twitter ban by handcuffing herself to NY headquarters

Right-winger Laura Loomer handcuffed herself to the front door of Twitter’s New York headquarters Thursday in protest of being banned from the platform.

Loomer, who cuffed herself to the door at around 3:45 p.m. and was free shortly after 6 p.m., was banned last week for violating Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct.

She had tweeted about a Twitter moment that used a picture of Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and accused Omar of being “pro Sharia” Muslim religious law under which “homosexuals are oppressed & … killed.”

“Ilhan is anti Jewish,” she said in the tweet.

Loomer stood with an enlarged cutout of that tweet Thursday and asked an NYPD officer who was trying to persuade her to leave, “Does this look like hate speech to you?” The conspiracy theorist and provocateur then accused tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google of “enforcing Sharia” on Silicon Valley.

[Opinion: Twitter has made liberal media bias more overt — and that’s a good thing]

New York police officers asked Loomer to uncuff herself from the building’s door, saying it was a fire hazard, but she refused, NBC reported. Police also told the outlet that Twitter wouldn’t press charges and said Loomer could stay chained to the door as long as she wants.

Video of the incident posted to Periscope showed Loomer yelling “They don’t want you guys to know the truth!” to a group of people standing across the street, and saying “I am not going to stand by as people like Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg [try to] silence the voices of millions of conservatives.”

Loomer could be seen wearing a sweatshirt with a yellow Star of David on her chest and “#STOPTHEBIAS” on the back.

“When am I going to get my Twitter back?” Loomer said in the video. “I’ll be here as long as it takes.”

Police at the scene prevented journalists from approaching Loomer, according to NBC, but did allow individuals who appeared to be working with her to approach and speak with her. NYPD officers used bolt cutters to free her.