BLM mob takes aim at praying Christians and Catholic statue as anarchy spreads to the heartland

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE.


Counter-cultural protests continued into the weekend around the country, including the heartland city of St. Louis where an angry mob of Black Lives Matter demonstrators threatened a Catholic priest and attacked at least one person who attended a prayer rally.

At a demonstration sponsored by The Gateway Pundit in support of preserving the St. Louis Statue on Art Hill in Forest Park, police had to separate BLM counter-protesters who attempted to disrupt the group as they prayed with Catholic priests.

The event, which was organized by TGP founder Jim Hoft, was reportedly in response to a petition effort by a local Left-wing activist, Umar Lee, to have the statue, formally named the Apotheosis of St. Louis, removed because the figure the city was named after, French King Louis IX, was allegedly “Islamophobic.”

Holt noted as well that Tishaura Jones, the St. Louis treasurer, labeled the event an “alt-right/KKK rally” on Friday in a tweet as she criticized Mayor Lyda Krewson for inadvertently ‘doxxing’ some BLM supporters after meeting with them outside City Hall during a live Facebook event to discuss coronavirus policy.

In a separate incident on Saturday, Fr. Stephen Schumacher, a Catholic priest with the St. Louis Archdiocese, took to a megaphone in an attempt to stop further vandalism of the statue and to educate counter-demonstrators about the life of St. Louis, but he was shouted down, according to witnesses.

Some in the BLM crowd also appear to threaten to attack the St. Louis Cathedral as well.

“Eventually, we’re taking that down too, though,” one person can be heard saying.

The event drew a crowd of around 200 people, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, noting that the statue of St. Louis was erected in time for the World’s Fair in the city in 1904.

“He’s gonna come down,” Lee said of the statue Saturday, the paper noted. “This guy right here represents hate and we’re trying to create a city of love. We’re trying to create a city where Black lives matter. We’re trying to create a city where there is no antisemitism or Islamophobia … this is not a symbol of our city in 2020.”

In addition, Moji Sidiqi of the Regional Muslim Action Network said she believes the city itself should be renamed in observance of its racial and ethnic diversity.

“It’s a revolution,” she said. “It’s time for change … right now, our number one mission is to take this thing down and sit down with people who want to see positive change take place and continue to heal our country.”

But supporters of the statue and the holiness it represents want it to remain. Daniel Koehler, 31, told the Post-Dispatch that demonstrators seeking to protect the statue were “here praying for peace, we truly are.”

“Christianity has lots of roots in America. What’s wrong with naming the city after a saint?” he said.

Jefferson County resident Maria Miloscia, 25, stepped onto the base of the statue for about an hour, reports said, quietly praying and singing religious songs. She told the paper that she believes further defacement and possibly the destruction of the statue will only lead to more vandalism and destruction of buildings and, eventually, murder.

“I think he symbolizes deep faith and convictions,” she said. “I stand for him. And I stand for those Catholic virtues and those Catholic values that I think are important, like courage, faith and love. But ultimately, I’m here for Christ the king.”

The paper noted that there was at least one scuffle after someone “tossed liquid and a man swung punches at another.”

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Jon Dougherty

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles