BLM protesters confront Lauren Victor over her refusal to raise her fist in solidarity with the movement. Photo / via Fredrick Kunkle WaPo, Twitter
BLM protesters confront Lauren Victor over her refusal to raise her fist in solidarity with the movement. Photo / via Fredrick Kunkle WaPo, Twitter
A Black Lives Matter protest in the US that demanded diners at restaurants show solidarity with the movement has triggered a backlash online.
BLM activists marching through Washington DC on Monday (US time) were caught on film demanding white diners raise their fist in the air, with demonstrators aggressively yelling at one woman who refused to comply.
The footage filmed outside several restaurants prompted a backlash, with many accusing protesters of acting like an "aggressive mob" and using "intimidation tactics" to order diners into submission.
BLM protesters confront Lauren Victor over her refusal to raise her fist in solidarity with the movement. Photo / via Fredrick Kunkle WaPo, Twitter
The footage, taken by a Washington Post reporter shows the woman, identified as Lauren Victor, being shouted at by a group of white protesters.
"Are you a Christian?" one of the women asks, while the group chant "white silence is violence" outside the restaurant.
Footage shows diners with their hands raised in support of the protesters, including a young boy with his fist raised.
Victor says she is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and has participated in marches but didn't want to be "coerced" into showing support.
"In the moment, it didn't feel right," she stated.
Some diners, including a young boy, were seen raising their fists. Photo / via Twitter
"I wasn't actually frightened. I didn't think they'd do anything to me. I'm very much with them. I've been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks."
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. #DCProtestspic.twitter.com/fJbPM76vb0
Responding to the footage, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough described the activists as "horrible people".
Many on social media took issue with the BLM protesters accosting Victor.
As a black person in America, I am not totally clear on how a bunch of white people screaming at another white person to make a performative gesture for their benefit makes my life materially better in any way. https://t.co/tZRpMBHCFp
"I see no black faces at all. These dopes will ruin this movement for all of us," African-American TV anchor Derek McGinty wrote.
Others stated that it would turn people away from supporting the movement.
WTF is wrong with these people? This is the problem when self-righteousness blends with narcissism - no interest in actually achieving a goal for justice, but an endless desire to make it look like you are better than others by screaming at others how much you want to achieve it. https://t.co/WPaz7CBIah
"You don't win supporters by screaming in people's faces and intimidating them. How many people have watched this video and been turned off? Is it about making a real change or just ego gratification?"
Diners show support for the BLM protesters. Photo / via Twitter
Other videos showed the protesters screaming at another couple at a separate restaurant, calling them "trash" for refusing to raise their fists, the Daily Mail reported.
The incidents occurred after police shot black man Jacob Blake, 29, in Kenosha, Wisconsin - an event that has re-energised many BLM protesters.
Blake was tasered and shot seven times by police as they tried to arrest him during a domestic dispute. He is being treated in hospital, and his family say he has been paralysed from the waist down.
