‘People around me had the most vile ... most disgusting tongues’ Protesters ! PLEASE READ
- Global Prophetic Voice
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Protesting the protestors: Counter Protesters at Hands Off! rally condemn their treatment
Belding: ‘People around me had the most vile ... most disgusting tongues’
While organizers of the Hands Off! protest of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on April 5 in Geneva say it was a peaceful rally with no injuries or arrests, two counterprotesters say it was not so for them.
Geneva barber Matt Belding and Vanessa Bell-LaSota of St. Charles said they were among the two dozen or so Trump supporters who countered the thousands protesting against the Trump administration.
Belding said while he was using his bullhorn to oppose the rallygoers, they pushed his bullhorn into his face with their signs and directed rude gestures at him.
“We were overrun,” Belding said. “People would not allow us to have the space. We were intimidated. ... People around me had the most vile ... most disgusting tongues.”
His shop, Belding Barbering and Co. at 1 W. State St., is on the north side of the Route 38 bridge over the Fox River. The rallygoers packed both sides of the bridge.
Bell-Lasota said one person who approached her with a hot pink poster board hit her in the nose with it.
“They have a right to be there,” Bell-LaSota said. “They have a right to their signs and their voice, but not a right to intimidation. ... Motorists decorated cars with obscene signs ... and giving us the bird and swearing and shouting at us. ‘Family, freedom, faith.’ That is all I said. One woman leaned out and started swearing at me.”
Trump supporters who drove past also yelled expletives and extended middle fingers at the protesters.
There were no police reports filed related to the protests on April 5 despite the reported bad behavior.
Some bad behavior is to be expected in these situations, said Simón E. Weffer-Elizondo, a sociology professor at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
“I have no doubt the man with the bullhorn had it shoved back in his face and that the two dozen counter protesters got the finger,” Weffer-Elizondo said. “I don’t doubt if they had been ... on the pro-side of that protest, that they wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
To counter a protest, no matter its size, comes with risk, he said.
“Every time you are a counter-protester, you are putting yourself at risk,” Weffer-Elizondo said. “In today’s world, we run a risk when we engage in protest. No matter what side we’re on, things get inflamed much more quickly.”
Weffer-Elizondo teaches a class about protests at NIU and urges his students to be as respectful as possible if they attend a protest.
“The important thing for me, as a scholar of protests, that both sides get to have their opinions heard,” Weffer-Elizondo said. “I always hope people bring their opinion and their best behavior, because they are out in public. I don’t expect everyone to side with their better angels.”
Weffer-Elizondo compared the Geneva protest to the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina, where white supremacists and neo-Nazis were met by counter-protesters.
One man purposely drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 people.
“That’s very different than someone giving you the finger or a thumb’s up or down,” Weffer-Elizando said.
“When you engage in protest, someone is going to object. We hope they do it semi-respectfully in a non-physical, non-confrontational manner,” Weffer-Elizando said. “I always emphasize to my students during protest class that America was founded in protest. That is why we enshrine that right in the First Amendment. It’s part of the DNA in our country.”
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Eye Witness Vanessa LaSota
We know her personally!
Hello fellow Americans. I was one of three individuals who as I am aware, were assaulted in various ways on that day. My name is Vanessa LaSota . Ms Brenda Schory interviewed me as well.
Much of my responses were not published.
I phoned the Geneva police immediately that morning as I was so shaken by the vitriol surrounding me and a couple of friends as well as Matt Belding and his father. I felt threatened.
I did not file a police report. Instead I suggested to the staff at the Geneva Police Department non-emergency #, that their officers, who were patrolling from their cars but not on foot, needed to get out of their cars to walk, witness and calm the behavior.
You don't have to file a report to inform and engage the police. Because a report was not filed does not mean that what I experienced did not happen.
It was shocking and invasive-I was only there 20 minutes and in that time one woman shoved her hot pink poster at my face as she passed. Another swore from her car and another bumped into me as she passed. Another man took the flag that my friends, the couple next to me, had left for me to watch for them-- a man plucked the huge flag out of it's post, walked away with it for about 50 feet across the bridge. I followed him, called to him ( I have very little voice due to recent surgery) and when he finally heard me, he turned around and said, " I was just moving it for you."
What I thought was, prior to the day, that my group would be able to- peacefully- protest this group. Both the Geneva Police and the Kane Sherrifs office were informed of our intent to appear on the bridge, as we have done monthly for the past 4 years to pray for our Country and recognize our Constitution together with veterans in the area.
Last I checked, this is a free country. Because you chose to protest, does not prevent the opposing view to appear and offer contradictory support of our Administration.
Since this day, I have been told by a local reporter, that I did not have to appear, as if it were my fault that I was threatened.
I am a Patriot, unashamed. I will show up for my veterans and my Country. All MY banner said was "Family, Freedom. Faith".
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Pay Attention
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