Dueling demonstrations turn violent in Gilbert

Fighting occurs as social justice rallies grow in size

A weekly rally drawing police supporters and Black Lives Matter counterprotesters in Gilbert erupted in physical fights and led to three arrests last week, and another rally is planned for today.

“Over the last six to eight weeks, we’ve had gatherings at Gilbert and Warner roads, and these gatherings have been peaceful, until last week,” said Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg in a statement on Tuesday.

The weekly rallies, organized by East Valley Blue Line Supporters, have escalated, drawing hundreds Aug. 20.

Videos posted to social media and shared with The Arizona Republic show pro-police protesters waved flags and yelled about the threat of “antifa,” referencing a loosely organized antifascist ideology that has no clear organization or membership but is often criticized by President Donald Trump. Several people were also caught on video threatening and punching counterprotesters gathered across the street with little police intervention. Some were heard making homophobic and racist remarks and Nazi salutes during and following the brawl.

Protesters alleged law enforcement is showing favoritism to the pro-police group, who they said largely instigated the violence and include people involved with far-right white supremacist organizations.

Rally attendance ballooned last week thanks to social media. Screenshots of posts in various Facebook groups show people saying they would

come from across the Valley to stop or hurt “antifa” and Black Lives Matter supporters, with statements like “Kill them all,” “Run them over,” or “Hunting season opens early this year boys.”

“They’re propagating this antifa boogeyman,” said Emily Hansen, a regular Black Lives Matter protest attendee who witnessed last Thursday’s events. “It’s terrifying.”

The people who antagonized counterprotesters at last Thursday’s Blue Line Supporters rally were not regulars but instead the fringe of the movement, said Republican candidate for the Arizona House Liz Harris, who attends these rallies every week and livestreamed the event last Thursday.

“Last Thursday was an anomaly,” Harris said. “There were people who we have never seen who came, and those people may or may not have said things that were not appropriate, and now the entire intent of Back the Blue is being maligned.”

The rally began after 4 p.m. at the intersection of Gilbert and Warner roads with a few dozen counterprotesters gathering on the opposite corner as usual. While some of the counterprotesters were Black Lives Matter supporters, others attended to oppose racism and fascism.

Tensions, generally fairly low between the two groups, quickly escalated as the pro-police rally swelled to well over 200 people and began to cross the street, those who attended told The Republic.

One video posted to Facebook (which has since been removed) shows a crowd of people, many holding flags and wearing Trump 2020 clothing, waiting at the crosswalk across the street from the counterprotesters. One man can be heard saying, “Put the flags down so we can get rowdy.”

“The other side came over and came up onto the sidewalk and started yelling and calling names,” such as the N-word and anti-gay slurs, said Brandon Burkhalter, one of the original organizers of the Black Lives Matter counterprotests, who was there last Thursday. He also said he heard one say, “Heil Hitler.”

Videos of the event show several instances of people using these slurs, men surrounding a woman of color trying to get help for a flat tire and calling her a “crackhead,” and one person repeatedly extending his arm up with his hand straight out in a Nazi salute.

“It deteriorated from there,” Bulkhalter said.

“If we’re going to have a repeat of last Thursday, that can’t happen,” Harris said, looking ahead to the rally planned this week. “The second violence is demonstrated, it’s no longer a peaceful gathering or a peaceful protest, it needs to be shut down.”

In a video posted to social media, a man later identified as Mike D. Clabaugh, a police supporter, can be seen snatching a baseball bat from a person’s hands. Another person pushed Clabaugh away with their shield.

“I was standing there peacefully, and someone wielded a bat in front of me,” Clabaugh told The Republic. “Obviously I did the right thing by pulling this bat from this individual so someone didn’t get hit on the head. I mean, if it was your kid on the other end of that bat, would you want someone to pull the bat away?”

The video then shows him pulling on his tactical gloves, yelling obscenities and threatening to knock people out. He is seen punching someone else in the face twice and striking another unprovoked.

In another video, Clabaugh can be seen again striking someone else in the face.

“Am I sorry about it?” Clabaugh told The Republic. “Not one bit.”

Clabaugh did not answer questions on Tuesday.

In a third video on social media, a woman can be seen being picked up by her backpack and thrown into gravel by two men with an American flag.

The fighting resulted in police and a special response team arresting Clabaugh and forming a buffer in the middle of the road between the two groups, including with a SWAT tank.

“The cops finally showed up and pushed us back and then kindly walked the assaulters back to their side,” Hansen said.

No other people were arrested on suspicion of assault besides Clabaugh.

The antagonism did not end there. In a video Harris livestreamed onto her campaign Facebook page shortly after the fights broke up, one person can be heard saying, “Hey, white power,” to laughter.

Multiple other videos provided to The Republic appear to show members of the pro-police group crossing the street at least one more time during the

further evening unhindered by the police and further physical fights erupting from there.

A counterprotester, Phillip D. Hawkins Jr., was the only person arrested for disorderly conduct during these later fights, although footage shows men carrying pro-police signs and American flags crossing the street and taunting the protesters and a man in a “MAGA” hat punching one and attempting to rip the face mask off another without being apprehended.

“Disorderly conduct or not, I shouldn’t be the only one that went down for that,” Hawkins said. “Considering the fact that I am a Black man in Arizona, this has put a target on my head, my family’s head.”

Gilbert police said one person was arrested on suspicion of assault, referencing Clabaugh; one was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, referencing Hawkins; and a third for criminal damage. Police did not name people they arrested.

Burkhalter and his co-organizers agreed that on their side of the street, the counterprotesters can’t let things get out of control.

“We hope to avoid this in the future at whatever costs,” he said. “What happened Thursday is not a representation of what we are out here for.”

Both the Gilbert Police Department and Gilbert Mayor Scott Anderson released statements Tuesday warning against a repeat of last Thursday’s events.

“Although peaceful protests are supported, violence will not be tolerated,” Anderson wrote in a statement.