It happened last May, and it just happened again.
Maggie Astor and Nicholas Fandos, NYT:
Violence broke out at a New York hotel Thursday afternoon when protesters disrupted a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
In the middle of Mr. Erdogan’s speech, delivered in Turkish, a man — one of a handful of protesters — screamed in English: “You’re a terrorist. Get out of my country!”…
Videos showed the protesters — one of them wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Michael Israel, an American who was killed in a Turkish airstrike while volunteering with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G. — being punched and slapped by several attendees as security personnel removed them from the room.
Take a look at some of the video, courtesy of Yashar Ali:
1. Yet again, Erdogan’s security detail beats up American protesters. It appears he has given the orders directly pic.twitter.com/TofzV9vi9v
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 21, 2017
2. Clip from another angle, notice how Erdogan’s bodyguard punches the American protester in the face as he’s being led out? All in NYC. pic.twitter.com/q035nt8Ah4
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 21, 2017
3. All in NYC…another angle, Erdogan’s bodyguards beating up American protesters. pic.twitter.com/72RgFZDOJS
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 21, 2017
4. More Erdogan bodyguard thuggery against Americans in NYC. In this clip an American says “get out of our country” pic.twitter.com/OgKevittF7
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 21, 2017
5. Final video for now – another angle here of Erdogan’s bodyguards beating up American protesters in New York. pic.twitter.com/4NbIQ8XVUr
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) September 21, 2017
I’m told some “conservatives” are defending this. I’d try to find out how they justify it, but I don’t care. There’s nothing conservative about condoning political violence. Of course, that’s an increasingly unpopular opinion.
I don’t care if it’s Antifa or Trumpkins or a foreign despot’s goons committing this violence. It’s lunacy and it has to stop.