Protesters Shouting at DC Diners in Viral Videos Get Roundly Criticized on Social Media: ‘This Will Not Win People Over’

A Washington Post reporter’s thread on DC protesters confronting and shouting at diners outside received a lot of attention on social media Tuesday.

WaPo’s Fredrick Kunkle shared videos of the confrontation Monday and tweeted that protesters were screaming at patrons to raise their fists in solidarity.

1) In a scene that played out several times Monday, a Black Lives Matter protest that began in Columbia Heights confronted White diners outside D.C. restaurants, chanting “White silence is violence!” and demanding White diners show their solidarity. #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/fJbPM76vb0

— Fredrick Kunkle WaPo (@KunkleFredrick) August 25, 2020

3) Modiano, who had been yelling at Victor and moments later identified himself as a citizen journalist who writes for @Deadspin, told Victor he couldn’t understand why she was the only diner in the area who wouldn’t comply. “What was in you, you couldn’t do this?”

— Fredrick Kunkle WaPo (@KunkleFredrick) August 25, 2020

5) “In the moment, it didn’t feel right,” Victor said, adding that she also could understand their anger. “I wasn’t actually frightened. I didn’t think they’d do anything to me,” she said. “I’m very much with them. I’ve been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks."

— Fredrick Kunkle WaPo (@KunkleFredrick) August 25, 2020

The protesters received quite a lot of criticism on social media:

This is not anti-racist activism, it's a thuggish power trip that does nothing to help the actual people it pretends to be about. Note that everyone engaged in this harassment is white. https://t.co/Gmw74Ft6uS

— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) August 25, 2020

imho this is not a good tactic https://t.co/ZE1tys75SD

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 25, 2020

Want to be an ally? Do not do this. https://t.co/Egkl69Qy4n

— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) August 25, 2020

This is to “political action that will effectively limit the powers of agents of the state and make it easier to get bad police off the streets” as a baked potato is to the works of Mozart.

— Jane Coaston (@cjane87) August 25, 2020

Another in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign. https://t.co/nQWvabqM75

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 25, 2020

Really though, the brazen witlessness of these cosplaying activists aside, what happens when they do this to the wrong person? Someone who suffers from anxiety attacks. Someone who just lost a loved one and is mourning. Someone who carries a weapon. What then? https://t.co/K8MonGHYOR

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) August 25, 2020

You couldn't script a better parody of white liberal 20-somethings https://t.co/7JkR80siQQ

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) August 25, 2020

This white-on-white violence is getting out of control. https://t.co/fy5YWQYP34

— Robert A George (@RobGeorge) August 25, 2020

This bullying is 1) pathetic; 2) dangerous; and 3) utterly destructive and counterproductive to the protesters' professed aims — unless confrontation is the only purpose. https://t.co/T8R4YFpkcX

— David French (@DavidAFrench) August 25, 2020

People who think this kind of stuff is going to help their cause have completely lost touch with reality. https://t.co/znZJb26VFH

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) August 25, 2020

yeah, don’t do this https://t.co/3EyI6eNxy2

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) August 25, 2020

The Evergreen College mindset has left the campus. https://t.co/mOTGPdUf6l

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) August 25, 2020

This gathering (might as well have been) pad for by the Committee to Reelect Trump https://t.co/GcvbIvDoRP

— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) August 25, 2020

What the fuck? Thread via @KunkleFredrick https://t.co/aJJ2BXOuDb

— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) August 25, 2020

The protesters hounding her are all white, perhaps they should think about whether they are helping the cause in question or whether they are essentially hijacking the cause and burning someone else's bridges? https://t.co/C6or10xXVX

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) August 25, 2020

Yeah this is cuckoo and counterproductive and there are indeed a minority of people who seem to be attracted to left movements because they would love to run a reeducation camp. Worth mentioning that the very white crowd is noticeably not super reflective of DC's actual populace. https://t.co/oFmmIMnzMo

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) August 25, 2020

This will not win people over to your cause: https://t.co/F49AKf1yYK

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) August 25, 2020

What does this do to stop injustices against Black Americans? Nothing! https://t.co/FuL5fYLhel

— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) August 25, 2020

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