Bassem Masri hates the police, or “pigs” as he calls them. He supports the terrorist group Hamas and he hoped for Joan Rivers to “burn in hell” after her recent death because of the opinions she expressed about the ongoing fight between Israel and the Palestinians.
This is the man that the Department of Justice invited to a meeting to provide input on police reforms following the police shooting death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. (RELATED: Autopsy Analysis: Michael Brown Was Shot In Hand While Reaching For Gun)
Masri has become a well-known fixture through a live web stream he operates aimed at documenting the Ferguson protests, which at times have devolved into rioting and looting with the police responding with military-like tactics. (RELATED: All Sides In Ferguson Brace For Grand Jury Decision In Michael Brown Shooting)
The 27-year-old Masri is not just a casual documentarian of police activity. He also aggressively confronted police officers on numerous occasions, calling them “pigs” and “terrorists.”
According to Masri, the Department of Justice called him on Wednesday to attend Thursday’s meeting.
Department of Justice called me yesterday invited me2a meeting today at 6pm on Police Reform want2 hear my ideas I’ll be updating #Ferguson
— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) November 6, 2014
DOJ has appointed a few of us2reform the police in the entire region that should resonate nationwide thats the director intentions #Ferguson
— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) November 7, 2014
He does not make clear which DOJ meeting he attended, but the timing coincides with a two-day event being held by the agency’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) division.
The stated goal of that meeting, which was closed to the press, is to “build trust and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve is the first of several regional collaborative reform trainings on law enforcement strategies and best practices.”
Masri wrote after the meeting on Thursday that “DOJ said the Administration is FULLY aware of the national anger against law enforcement” and that it planned to implement any reforms it enacted in Ferguson “on a national level.”
If the DOJ’s goal with the session is to bolster the relationship between the community and local police, Masri seems to be an odd choice to provide guidance.
St. Louis’ local Fox affiliate profiled Masri last month, calling attention to his aggressive stance towards police.
“What you doing here, bro?” Masri is heard saying during one of his live streams to a St. Louis police officer on Oct. 8, the night another black teenager, VonDerrit Myers was shot by an off-duty police officer.
“Get the fuck out of here with your coward ass boys!” Masri shouted. “Your life is in danger, homie, you gotta go.”
“I’m praying for your death, and your death and your death,” Masri said, calling out individual police officers.
In another confrontation with police, Masri compared officers to the brutal terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“I see ISIS in front of me,” Masri said to officers before expressing his support for another terrorist group, Hamas.
“Hamas? They’re real men. You go stand with Hamas and see if you’re going to stand a day,” said Masri.
Masri first gained national attention when, on Oct. 20, he shut down a CNN live broadcast in Ferguson because he and other protesters thought the network was biased.
“You’re all run by Zionists,” Masri shouted at CNN anchor Sarah Sidener.
“They’re all run by Israel, so they’ve all got to go,” he is heard saying while filming the encounter for his live stream.
When Joan Rivers was in a coma following a botched surgery in August, Masri wrote that he hoped she would die and “burn in hell” for comments she had made earlier in the month about the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinians over Gaza. (RELATED: Joan Rivers, Comedy Legend, Dies At 81)
According to Masri, the citizen group made several demands at Thursday’s powwow, including the implementation of a citizen review board “that can call an investigation/charge police” accused of being involved in criminal activity, and a system that encourages police officers to “snitch” on “bad pigs.”
“The Department of Justice meets regularly with various law enforcement leaders, youth groups, clergy, and community members as part of the ongoing engagement and initiatives in Ferguson,” a Department of Justice official told The Daily Caller in a statement. “The community meetings led by the COPS office are independent of any federal investigation and the Department does not place community members in charge of police trainings.”
This article has been updated to include comment from the Department of Justice. The meeting to which Masri was invited was not the COPS two-day meeting, but another session.
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[h/t The Gateway Pundit]