Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters believe they can block traffic, vandalize, burglarize, and set fire to private property so long as they do so under the banner of “protesting”.

A mob of rioters have assembled at an intersection to block traffic.  People that claim allegiance to groups such as Antifa, Black Lives Matter, or both, along with at-large, professional agitators and the few people that can honestly be labeled ‘peaceful protesters’ that have been swept up in the moment, all await any vehicle that refuses to turn around and find another route.  The preferred uniform is militant from head to toe, black, camouflage, olive drab, and desert colors.  Faces are covered.  Some have helmets or hardhats.  The majority are armed with baseball bats, pipes, glass-breaking tools, and seat-belt cutters.  Some are carrying concealed firearms. 

The videos of these mobs smashing car windows and dragging the driver and any occupants out of their vehicle can easily be found on social media.  Occasionally, mainstream media will report on these peaceful protesters, leaving out what happens next.  The people dragged from their vehicle are assaulted and often robbed.  They are outnumbered and sometimes beat and kicked until unconscious.

If you’re driving down the road and stop your vehicle because there is a mob of rioters standing in the middle of the street or highway blocking your right to travel, it would not be unreasonable to fear for your safety and the safety of your occupants.  Once your vehicle is being smashed with bats, and your windshield and door glass is being shattered with hammers, the fight or flight reflex will take over the decision-making process.  You are left with two choices – accelerate out of the way of danger even though you will most likely hit / run-over some people, or succumb to the mob and get bloodied and broke. 

Most Americans that have seen these illegal roadblock shakedowns cannot believe that such mob rule behavior is happening anywhere in the United States.  We wonder why the police don’t knock some heads and restore order.  It’s not that easy though.  The police knocking heads is what the riot mob claims to be protesting.  As soon as law enforcement lays hands on a rioter, hundreds of smart phones are recording the contact.  The rioters call it all excessive force no matter how professional law enforcement execute an arrest. 

These roadblock radicals, if they are not live streaming, will quickly post their latest example of what they claim to be police misconduct and abuse, to their favorite social media platforms.  They’ll put the call out for more radicals to show up tomorrow to support the cause.  The end result can be witnessed in liberal cities across America.  Anarchy has taken over.  It might take some excessive force to arrest it and a District Attorney’s Office that will prosecute these rioters to the fullest extent of the law. 

So, what are law-abiding citizens missing?  Too many people believe protesters have a right to block a roadway.  They do not.  Protesters do not have the right to protest on private property.  Protesters do not have a right to interfere with car or pedestrian traffic.  The only time a protest can block vehicle or pedestrian traffic is if the protest organizer has a permit.  Without a permit, a protester roadblock is illegal.  Police can and should ask protesters without a permit to move to the side of the road or onto the shoulder or sidewalk to allow traffic to safety flow.  If the protesters refuse to disperse, law enforcement should use the necessary force required to place those individuals under arrest. 

There are other behaviors that these leftist protesters claim as their right, when they are not their right at all. Protesters do not have a right to interfere with another citizen’s rights.  Protesters do not have a right to purposely block a pedestrian’s path.  They do not have a right to stick a bullhorn in another person’s face.  They do not have a right to arrest another person’s travel.  Disturbing the peace, breaking the peace, and local noise ordinances prohibit the protest tactic of marching or standing in a neighborhood in the early morning hours with the intent to disturb sleep.  It’s all against our laws.  Law enforcement needs a zero-tolerance approach to these radical methodologies to push back against the violence and property destruction.  Liberal mayors gave an inch and the mob took a mile.  

With the passing yesterday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the likelihood that the Trump Administration will attempt to fill her seat prior to the November 3rd elections, more protests should be expected.  It is up to city and county leaders to decide right now what type of behavior they are going to allow in their communities.  The mayors, police, and district attorneys that enforce and apply all the laws fairly and equally will emerge the stronger for it.  It starts with clear public statements that set the rules for the roadblock radicals. 

Do not attempt to block traffic, either pedestrian or vehicle, or you will be arrested.  You will go to jail.  You will have a high bail.  And you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.