For the record.....
From the Raleigh News and Observer.
"A Fayetteville police officer escorts a war protester, left, away from a group of counter-demonstrators he had confronted".
There are several FReepers depicted here, but for purpose of this post, the gentlemen in the Stetson is Bert, the FReeper assaulted by the leftist, and Dr Raoul in the background, the true source of his leftist ire. There was another leftist involved, a clean cut young man who heckled Rauol and claimed to be an Iraq vet. He was the instigator, the bald guy was his henchman. Bert was in the wrong place at the time. It was a carefully planned setup for some unknowing FReeper. The clear intent was to cause a severe disruption and to make Raoul cease his presentation.
Thanks to the excelling work of the vigilant Fayetteville police, they failed. Raoul kept speaking.
The choice of words in the caption is interesting, the implication being the war protester had in a manly fashion came on our turf and in some manner engaged. The word all the reporters who asked me about the incident used was confrontation so it must be meaningful in reportereese. In my view there was no confrontation. The bad guy in a cowardly manner infiltrated the ranks of the FReepers listening to the excelling presentation of Dr Raoul and waited. The clean cut bad guy stepped off the road and onto the grass, and began heckling Dr Raoul. He was standing nearly on top of me. I was sitting on the ground, having turned around in more or less the same spot I previously occupied on the curb. I was facing Raoul, the heckler was to my back.
After I realized the heckler was performing directly above my head, I stood and turned around. I was eyeball to eyeball with the heckler. I don't recall any words only direct eye contact and then whammo, I was hit a very good lick on the top of the back of my head. My hat collapsed from the blow. The substantial straw hat saved me a severe injury. The collapse absorbed most of the blow and provided a stiff neck rather than a goose egg.
In a blink the clean cut guy was gone, I turned around and the bald headed one was looking beyond me, I guess to a police officer screaming "He hit me, He hit me." Interestingly enough, I have no recollection of the events in the photo. I do remember sing two perhaps three officers struggling with the man as he was moved away toward the park entrance.
There were terrorist present in Rowan Park. What they could not accomplish by lawful means, the sought to accomplish by force. Raoul was reciting a litany of the horrible organizational connections across the way, the truth about who was there, had provide money and infrastructure. They could not stand the truth and made an suicide effort to disrupt.
They are true American Hatriots.
