Black Lives Matter protesters say they were attacked. Boise police investigate, speak out
A Black Lives Matter protest outside Boise City Hall on Tuesday regarding funding for police escalated when counterprotesters, some of whom were white supremacists and several of whom were armed, began assaulting people, victims said.
One of the people assaulted was Joe Evans, who said he attended the rally to listen to what speakers and attendees had to say. Evans, who is running for Congress in District 1 as a Libertarian, said he was attacked by three men.
The protest, centered in part on defunding police and funding social services, became tense when hundreds of counterprotesters marched from the Capitol to City Hall. Some in the group carried handguns or rifles, and some shouted racist statements, such as “white power” and “heil Hitler.” Some counterprotesters wore patches that had SS Bolts, the symbol for Schutzstaffel, a common white supremacist/neo-Nazi marking. Another counterprotester had the SS Bolt symbol tattooed on his body.
Others in the crowd told Black Lives Matter supporters to “go home” or shouted “my ancestors had it worse” and “speak English” when someone used Spanish.
Evans said he formed part of a barrier between unarmed Black Lives Matter supporters and the riled-up counterprotesters. His arms were interlocked with the people to his left and right, he said.
In a video that he and several other people shared on social media, men can be seen punching Evans in the back of the head and neck. Two were wearing Vagos Motorcycle Club vests. Evans said three people beat him for about 15 seconds. Evans didn’t fight back and stayed interlocked with the people at his sides, he said.
Evans said he was surprised by the number of people who came to confront the Black Lives Matter supporters.
“The dialogue didn’t surprise me, I’ve heard it before at other rallies,” he said. “But ‘heil Hitler’ was new. What was said didn’t surprise me. The volume of people present was surprising to me.”
Evans said many of the counterprotesters were armed and “some couldn’t resist patting their sidearms.”
“Outlaw bikers and neo-Nazis are beating on members of their community and (counterprotesters) want to tout being the sheep dog,” Evans said. “Instead, they stood back and let it happen.”
Evans said the Black Lives Matter protesters were there to “address legitimate grievances,” while some of the counterprotesters attended to look for a fight or provoke protesters.
“Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are absolute rights as humans and citizens of the United States,” Evans said. “And when you show up en masse, you aren’t there in the best interest in of the United States, promoting freedom of expression.”
Evans said he filed a police report Wednesday about the assault on him.
Boise Police said Thursday that there are multiple investigations underway with several charges possible, most of which are misdemeanors. BPD is also aware of videos on social media where the people involved have not reported the incidents to police.
Anyone with information about Tuesday’s incidents or the people being sought is asked to contact Boise police.
City and police union statements
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean issued a statement on Wednesday in which she criticized the counterprotesters.
“I condemn those who showed up in our community under the guise of ‘protection’ and instead intimidated, shouted epithets and white nationalist slogans, and in some cases physically assaulted protesters,” McLean said. “There is no room for this in our city.”
The International Brotherhood of Police Officers #486, the union that represents Boise Police Department officers, issued a statement in response to McLean.
“We hold a slightly different view of what happened at the rally on Tuesday evening,” said Chad Wigington, president of the Boise chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers. “There were multiple bad actors at the event on Tuesday, which were not limited to counterprotesters. We also contend that there were very few violent incidents and that most attendees at the rally exercised restraint when their tempers flared.”
The union described the protest as having three groups of people, not two. They said there were BLM supporters, a large number of counterprotesters who “were everyday Idahoans showing their support for police,” and a third group of people protesting against the BLM group.
“The third group included some antagonists who did not seem to have the same goals as the counterprotesters who peacefully gathered to ‘Defend Police, not Defund Police,’” according to the BPD union’s statement.
Also on Thursday, the executive board of the Fraternal Order of Police Treasure Valley Lodge #11 issued a statement disagreeing with McLean and thanking the hundreds of people who came to support police. The union represents more than 500 law enforcement officers in the Treasure Valley.
“Overall, the vast majority of people expressed their voices peacefully. There were only a few instances in which anger got the best of people, but those actions were not limited to people on any one side of the issue,” the FOP claimed in the statement. “The incidents of reported violence are currently under investigation, and we have full faith in the Boise Police Department to investigate and bring charges against offenders regardless of their affiliation with either side of the protest.
“As members of the Fraternal Order of Police, we stand against racism. We have a great deal of respect for the diversity of our community, even when the same respect is not necessarily shown to us.”
Prominent Republican defends himself
Among other people at the rally were former Ada County GOP Chairman Ryan Davidson, who is currently running for a seat on the Ada County Board of Commissioners. Photos are circulating online of Davidson standing near some of the men wearing neo-Nazi symbols, but Davidson said he does not know them.
On Thursday, Davidson told the Idaho Statesman that he attended the rally to support police. He said he did see some of the fights that broke out, including the ones with motorcycle club members.
“It was disappointing and it was very troubling,” Davidson said. “One reason I was close to that is I was hoping to be able to pull people apart.”
He said does not support any of the statements made by the people fighting.
“I’ve been the victim of a smear campaign,” Davidson said Thursday. “There were nearly 1,000 people there. I was close to BLM supporters, I was close to other Republicans. I never would have suspected that standing next to strangers at an event would force me to have defend that I’m not a racist.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 4:03 PM.
