A Columbus, Ohio protest turned ugly as police officers resorted to force to break the ranks of protesters who allegedly refused to leave the street.
According to the reports, a mass of protesters wielding signs and calling for justice had gathered in the city of Columbus prior to clashing with the police who attempted to push them off the street using their bikes.
As the protesters refused to budge under the pressure of the cops, the police started blasting them with pepper spray until the crowd disbanded.
Speaking of demonstrations, Mayor Andrew Ginther previously confirmed that all peaceful protesters “deserve to have the space to exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Allegedly, the City has also banned the police from using pepper spray during peaceful protests.
Nevertheless, the Sunday protest appeared to have contradicted the mayor’s earlier statement as several non-aggressive protesters got doused in pepper spray.
One of them was allegedly also a young man who is a double-amputee and was seen rolling on the ground in agony after supposedly getting pepper-sprayed.
According to some reports, there have been allegations that the police attempted to take away the man’s prosthetics during the confrontation. These allegations, however, we cannot confirm as of this moment.
Speaking of the protest after the clash between the protesters and the police, Mayor Ginther appeared to defend the actions taken to clear the streets by insisting that the police “were met with violence from some and took action, including using mace and pepper spray as appropriate to keep crowds in sidewalks.”
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Replaced!