Demonstrators in Washington on Friday surrounded Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his wife along with other lawmakers, including state Georgia Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat who supports President Donald Trump.
Video footage showed Paul, who was brutally assaulted by his neighbor several years ago, protected from the crowd by police officers.
Paul and several women stood in place for at least 5 minutes until officers began clearing the way for them to move. Demonstrators shouted at the senator, calling on him to say the name of Breonna Taylor, a woman shot by police officers. “White silence is violence!” they told Paul, who introduced the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act” last month.
After several minutes of walking, Paul and the women made it to a hotel.
“Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House,” Paul wrote in a tweet.
He thanked Metropolitan Police Department officers “for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called what happened “wrong,” before adding: “The police protecting them were heroic, but this needs to stop. This is very close to escalating to serious violence.”
Other people who attended the Republican National Convention events at the White House were also confronted by Black Lives Matter demonstrators, including Jones, a black man who has faced criticism from Democrats for supporting Trump.
Police officers clashed with demonstrators in multiple areas.
At one point, a group of demonstrators harassed an elderly couple, one of whom was wearing a “Trump 2020” T-shirt, before knocking the man to the ground.
The raucous demonstrations during Trump’s speech featured a guillotine with a blow-up version of the president on it.
The Metropolitan Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
From The Epoch Times
