Pittsburgh police have charged three people who were captured on video accosting diners at a restaurant during an anti-police protest, along with an additional incident at a nearby McDonald’s, numerous sources reported.
Shawn Green, who goes by Lorenzo Rulli, Kenneth McDowell, and Monique Craft were charged Monday for their involvement in the harassment, according to Pittsburgh police, WPXI reported.
A video that captured the confrontations is alleged to have shown McDowell using a megaphone to scream obscenities at diners sitting outside a restaurant. McDowell was also identified as the individual who accosted an employee at a downtown McDonald’s.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, I’m sure this will win over the swing vote in this key battleground state @realDonaldTrump will win PA again. pic.twitter.com/QLczUu0Nz6
— Rob O’Donnell (@odonnell_r) September 7, 2020
His charges included possessing instruments of crime, disorderly conduct and harassment, according to WPXI.
Black Lives Matter protesters assaulted a black store manager in Pittsburgh, PA after mobbing his McDonald’s. pic.twitter.com/tigzxJfsuW
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 7, 2020
Rulli swore at diners, specifically an elderly couple, and gave them a middle finger. In the video, a protester is seen standing in front of diners saying “fuck 12,” an anti-police slogan, and “fuck the white people who built the system against mine, you old dick.” Rulli then screamed through an open window at the front of a restaurant, according to the complaint. (RELATED: Pittsburgh Police Investigate Video Showing Protesters Accosting Diners At Restaurant During Anti-Police Demonstration)
Rulli’s charges include disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
Another protester, who was identified as Craft and identifies as neither male nor female, is seen in the video wearing a “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” shirt, chugging an elderly couple’s beer.
In the background, an upside-down American flag and an “Abolish Police” sign is seen being held by a crowd of protesters walking beside the outdoor dining seating of the restaurant. The protesters are chanting “no justice, no peace” and “fuck the police.”
Rulli had told a local news outlet in the days following the Sept. 6 incident that his movement does not target businesses, although he was seen on video yelling expletives at diners.
“We don’t target businesses,” the protester who was identified as Lorenzo Rulli said, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Our restaurant industry in the city supports us very much. We were talking to people that were talking to us.”
The incident happened weeks after videos circulated on social media showing protesters in D.C. surrounding diners at restaurants and yelling into their faces that “white silence is violence” and “no justice no peace.” The protesters said that people who didn’t raise their fists are white supremacists.