Less than a week after the Dallas terrorist attack, and the liberal media has once again focused on providing attention to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors across the nation. The protestors continue to further spark and instigate force and other actions from the police by pulling such stunts as interrupting heavy traffic locations and everyday life with their "activism."
During coverage of the BLM protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by CBS This Morning, the network used flowering rhetoric and selective quotes from liberal newspapers such as the Baton Rouge Advocate, who referred to the protest as a “showdown”, which implies both sides were at fault for the chaos that ensued, instead of what it was, angry and volatile people who wanted to start a fight with police in order to continue a misguided and false narrative.
CBS reporter David Begnaud dedicated a majority of his report’s segment to discuss what occurred with Baton Rouge resident Lisa Batiste, who was “appalled” by the police as they arrested protestors whom she stated were invited onto her property.
DAVID BEGNAUD: Gayle, good morning. Here at police headquarters we're hearing 50 people were arrested last night and almost all were from out of town. It started with a call the protestors were about to walk onto the interstate and then told protestors hurled bottles at riot police. A woman in Baton Rouge offered peaceful protestors refuge on her first yard and then watched as they were arrested on her private property. This morning that woman is calling the actions of the police department appalling. Heavily armored riot police moved into this Baton Rouge neighborhood Sunday evening. Some pushed back by an armored vehicle and arrested.
DAVID BEGNAUD: Officers got physical with people that stood in the middle of the street demonstrating against the killing of 37 year old Alton sterling nearly one week ago. Sterling was pinned to the ground and shot during an encounter with two Baton Rouge police officers last Tuesday. For more than an hour police ordered the protestors to leave. When they didn't, even those invited to stand on private property were led away in handcuffs. The confrontation came to Lisa Batiste's doorstep. Is it your belief once in your yard they no longer allowed to arrest?
LISA BATISTE: Yes. I was appalled. I was stunned I just couldn’t believe what they were doing. They actually swept onto the yard…they came on to the porch, and I said, this is my home. I don't want you here. Please, get out of my home, and they were pushing. It was wrong. It was not their right to do so and I'm not okay with it.
Instead of focusing on whether or not the removal of protestors from Batiste’s property were in fact legal, Begnaud allowed Batiste to go on an almost forty second soapbox about her disapproval of the police department. Contrast that with LT. Dunham from the BRPD who was only provided a ten second blurb to say “you don't break the law and then try to retreat to a safe space. There's no safe space.”
As the segment continued to cast police in a negative light, what CBS failed to explain was that it was in fact the protestors who were wrong and that Batiste actually has no real case against the police whose actions she considered so abrasive.
According to the ACLU, “the general rule is that the owners of private property may set rules limiting your free speech. If you disobey the property owner’s rules, they can order you off their property.” What clearly works against Batiste is the timeline of events. The protest started as protesters began to try to march onto the interstate, and after an hour stand-off with the police, the cops began to arrest the protestors who attempted to retreat to retreat and scatter throughout the neighborhood, including those who attempted to seek refuge on Batiste’s property in order to avoid arrest because of the “unlawful assembly.” Once again the ACLU states clearly the legal limitations for protests, which include “demonstrators who engage in civil disobedience- peaceful, but unlawful, activities as a form of protest- are not protected under the First Amendment and can be arrested.”
The entire transcript of the segment can be seen below.*
NORAH O’DONNELL: And in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, heavily armed police arrested dozens of protestors overnight. They were protesting the killing of 37-year-old Alton sterling.
GAYLE KING: And the front page of the Baton Rouge Advocate called the demonstrations a showdown. David Begnaud is outside the Baton Rouge police department with a controversial end to the protest. David good morning.
DAVID BEGNAUD: Gayle, good morning. Here at police headquarters we're hearing 50 people were arrested last night and almost all were from out of town. It started with a call the protestors were about to walk onto the interstate and then told protestors hurled bottles at riot police. A woman in Baton Rouge offered peaceful protestors refuge on her first yard and then watched as they were arrested on her private property. This morning that woman is calling the actions of the police department appalling. Heavily armored riot police moved into this Baton Rouge neighborhood Sunday evening. Some pushed back by an armored vehicle and arrested.
DAVID BEGNAUD: Officers got physical with people that stood in the middle of the street demonstrating against the killing of 37 year old Alton sterling nearly one week ago. Sterling was pinned to the ground and shot during an encounter with two Baton Rouge police officers last Tuesday. For more than an hour police ordered the protestors to leave. When they didn't, even those invited to stand on private property were led away in handcuffs. The confrontation came to Lisa Batiste's doorstep. Is it your belief once in your yard they no longer allowed to arrest?
LISA BATISTE: Yes. I was appalled. I was stunned I just couldn’t believe what they were doing. They actually swept onto the yard…they came on to the porch, and I said, this is my home. I don't want you here. Please, get out of my home, and they were pushing. It was wrong. It was not their right to do so and I'm not okay with it.
DAVID BEGNAUD: But the Lieutenant Johnny Dunham with the Baton Rouge police department says those protestors broke the law. So the crime was trying to get on to the interstate?
OFFICER JOHNNY DUNHAM: The crime was blocking the roadways. You don't break the law and then try to retreat to a safe space. There's no safe space.
DAVID BEGNAUD: One of the best known voices in the Black Lives Matter movement Deray Mckesson arrested on Saturday night. Police say he was standing in the street. He was ordered to leave but didn't. He calls his arrest unlawful. This morning we've learned Alton Sterling’s funeral is plans his funeral for Friday- Charlie those two responsible for his death are on paid administrative.
*Thanks to Samantha Cohen for assistance
