Fighting breaks out during rally to remove Texas Confederate statue

WEATHERFORD, Texas - Fighting broke out when a group of protesters demanding the removal of a Confederate soldier statue from the City of Weatherford was met by a large number of counter-protesters, local media reported.

“Hundreds” of counter-protesters, some of them openly carrying guns, gathered at Parker County Courthouse in Weatherford on Saturday, July 25 to meet anti-racism protesters who were calling for the statue’s removal. The rally turned violent multiple times, with local media reporting that a man was punched, a girl was slapped, and a knife was pulled out.

Organizers said that counter-protesters threw water bottles and shouted racial slurs. Footage shows a number of Confederate flags among the group, along with those of the Trump 2020 campaign.

In a video filmed by Nicole Jamie, a man can be seen clutching a knife and armed with multiple guns, arguing with anti-racism protesters. The man later grabs at Jamie’s phone, forcing it to fall to the ground.

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“This man shoved a girl and when I told him I filmed him, he slapped my phone out of my hand, pushed me, and threatened me with a knife,” Jamie said on Facebook.

Police said that two people were arrested.

In the run-up to Saturday’s confrontation, local authorities had struggled to determine who owned the statue. According to later reports in the Weatherford Democrat, a local paper, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, having been established as owners of the monument, were expected to remove it once they had funding to do so.

Storyful contributed to this article