Protest leader Jon Ritzheimer defends protest on Fox 10 News
Screengrab/YouTube/Fox 10 Phoenix
On Friday, CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill angered a number of people with a tweet suggesting that protests of Islam outside a mosque constitute terrorism. The tweet was issued in response to a planned protest outside a Phoenix mosque reportedly attended by the two gunmen who attacked a free-speech event in Garland, Texas.
"So a group of people are going to stand outside a mosque toting guns and wearing t-shirts that say '(expletive deleted) Islam,'" he tweeted. "How is this not terrorism?"
One person supporting Hill compared the anti-Islam protesters to tactics used by the KKK. Another supporter claimed that "intimidation falls under terrorism." One person asked Hill if protesters standing outside police stations with profane signs attacking officers would be terrorists as well.
"If they were also holding guns, and committing act solely designed to intimidate and provoke? Absolutely," he said in response. Others had much more to say about the issue.
"Maybe because nobody wants Sharia law in this country," one person said. "Except maybe you, Obama and Jarrett."
"I love how the left now thinks provacetive (sic) behavior is illegal when it affects 1 of their protected groups," another person added. One online critic told Hill that he doesn't "get to redefine terrorism while apologizing for actual terrorists."
Another person told Hill that protesters peacefully exercising their First and Second Amendment rights are not terrorists. But, the Twitter user said, making people "afraid for their life to draw a cartoon is."
Hill was not the only one to call the protest a form of terrorism. One Twitter user, using the hashtag "#NotMyAmerica," seemed to agree with Hill. "Armed men surrounding and harrassing (sic) a minority's religious institution is not free speech. It's terrorism," the Twitter user said. "I don't have to be Muslim to be outraged by armed men terrorizing a U.S. mosque, just a human being," added another person. Criticism of the views held by counter-protesters was not limited to Twitter.
"Armed men are NOT terrorizing a U.S. mosque," said a post at the conservative blog Weasel Zippers. "This is a mosque that yielded two terrorists that went to Garland and shot up that event. The protesters are the ones who have been threatened with death, not the mosque goers."
Hundreds of protesters faced off outside the mosque, engaging in heated debate. Police formed a line between protesters and counter-protesters to minimize the possibility of physical confrontation.
As we reported earlier Friday, Jon Ritzheimer, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who organized the event, was the target of death threats issued by ISIS supporters on Twitter. The protest continues as of this writing and so far, there have no reports of violence. A live feed by Fox10 can be seen here.
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