An anti-war protest in Jacksonville, Florida over the Syrian missile strike erupted into a pushing/shoving match against police officers, anti-war protesters, and pro Donald Trump supporters.
You can watch videos above and below, which show officers responding with physical restraint as the crowd grows increasingly chaotic.
The scuffling erupted when pro Donald Trump counter protesters arrived at the downtown Jacksonville event, and police tried to get in between the two groups.
An FCN2go reporter says six protesters were arrested, and police said officers were hit. On social media, activists claimed the police were abusive to the protesters. ActionNewsJax reported that one protester was taken to the hospital, and 16 police officers were initially on the scene, a number that grew by a dozen once the situation grew unruly.
The anti-war protest came the day after Trump launched missiles to destroy a Syrian airfield blamed for being the staging area in a chemical weapons attack that killed men, women, and children. The action has been hotly debated, with Trump saying it was necessary to prevent more attacks on innocents. Others don’t want the U.S. government meddling in Syria.
According to ActionNewsJax, the fight initially broke out in downtown Jacksonville between groups opposed to the missile strike and those for it.
The protest was called “No War With Syria.”
“Scuffles broke out between the two groups when a pro-Trump counter-protester got onto the stage. The police moved in to separate the them. As the officers were separating the groups, the anti-war protesters started attacking the police,” reported ActionNewsJax.