Violent counter-protesters mobbed a small-town BLM demonstration in Ohio amid false rumors of antifa

• A small demonstration against racism in Bethel, Ohio, turned violent when hundreds of counter-protesters arrived after learning of the event from Facebook.
• The counter-protesters shouted, tore signs apart, and assaulted protesters, leading to "approximately 10 incidents" being investigated by the Village of Bethel police department, they said in a statement.
• During the clash, counter-protesters livestreamed false claims that antifa was involved, echoing similar misinformation seen when targeting other small-town protests.
• "I always suspected Bethel was a very racist town," one protester said in a Facebook post after the violent clash. "Today confirmed it."

A small group of locals planned to hold an anti-racism rally in Bethel, Ohio, on Sunday, advertising Bethel's Solidarity with Black Lives Demonstration on social media.

But counter-protesters, identified by Bethel's police department as "several motorcycle gangs, back the blue groups, and second amendment advocates," also learned of the protest plans on social media. Hundreds of people descended onto Sunday's peaceful protest, chanting "USA, USA," and causing chaos.

The counter-protesters contributed to "approximately 10 incidents" that are being investigated, the Village of Bethel police department said in a statement on Monday. One such incident included a protester being punched in the back of his head. Like other violence against protesters at demonstrations throughout the US, sparked by the killing of George Floyd on May 25, many of these incidents were caught on camera.

A video posted on Twitter by radio reporter Josh Martinez showed the man who was punched by a counter-protester. In the video, the protester is surrounded by other white men as they yell and heckle him. One man can be heard shouting "get the f--k out bro." A counter-protester wearing a Confederate flag bandana on his head punches the protester in the back of the head. "Sir, I just got punched in the back of the head," the protester then says to a police officer.

Amid the chaos of the video, it's unclear how the officer immediately replied, but the man who had punched him did not appear to be removed from the scene.

Other tweets and Facebook videos demonstrate the scene that unfolded on Bethel's Plane Street, including more physical altercations, men carrying rifles, and at least one Trump 2020 flag.

Amber Deitsch, a protester who posted Facebook Live videos from the clash, told Insider that a counter-protester harassed her daughter. In one of her videos, that same man can be heard using a racial slur. "I always suspected Bethel was a very racist town," Deitsch, who lives in a nearby town, said in a Facebook post. "Today confirmed it."

Deitsch's daughter, who is 16, told Insider that the counter-protesters had claimed they were there to protect the town from violence. But she said they did the opposite of that. "The [counter-protesters] were causing a ruckus, and that was what they were supposedly trying to keep from happening," she said in an interview.

The clash comes amid a series of precarious and dangerous encounters at largely peaceful protests, as vigilante groups, like the civil war accelerationist movement Boogaloo Bois, continue to pop up. Many counter-protesters in these situations have claimed they're attending protests to fight off members of the anti-fascist movement "antifa," though the FBI has said that there's no evidence violence at demonstrations nationwide had a link to any such organization. Still, President Donald Trump continues to comment on "antifa," as misinformation runs rampant.

Village Administrator Travis Dotson told the Enquirer that Bethel has received at least two phone calls alleging that "bus loads of protesters" were en route to the town, but that there has been no evidence to support the claims. Similar false tips have plagued other small-town police departments across the country.

On Facebook, a man who says he lives near Bethel posted a video Monday claiming that two or three buses filled with members of antifa were on their way, showing the pervasiveness of the rumors. A livestream of the event on YouTube was labeled "Antifa / BLM show up in small town Bethel Ohio LIVE NOW! 6-14-20." Deitsch said people affiliated with antifa were not at the protest Sunday or in Bethel on Monday.

Deitsch said it appeared that the police officers were trying not to get involved in the altercations. When she told one cop that she and her daughter were being harassed, she said he told them to just cross the street. "Silence is deafening," she told Insider of the cop's inaction. "His response to the racist men was, 'This mother and her children need to go away.'"

Deitsch's daughter, Cadence, added, "We were being harassed, and the cop didn't do anything." Insider has reached out to Bethel Chief of Police Steve Teague for comment on Sunday's events.

Andrea Dennis and her mother also shared their experiences on Facebook, writing that they were both assaulted at the event. "The 1.5 hours of harassment is nothing compared to the centuries of harassment, murder and systematic oppression endured by African Americans, Native Americans and other marginalized groups in the USA. That is why we were there," she wrote in a post. In a separate video, Dennis' mother, Lois, said that the counter-protesters "ripped [their] signs apart."

The Village of Bethel is a 97% white town of fewer than 3,000 people, according to the US Census Bureau. It has only six police officers, who were all stationed at the demonstration. Nine additional deputies from Clermont County were deployed to assist in the situation after the counter-protesters arrived, Bethel said in its statement.

Bethel local Alicia Gee coordinated the demonstration and advertised it on her own Facebook page, writing on Sunday morning that she would be "telling whoever will listen that no matter the color of your skin you are loved." Gee said that this was "long overdue" in her "very monochromatic town."

Gee, a 36-year-old substitute teacher, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that she also made a Facebook event for the demonstration. The Bethel police statement said that the groups of counter-protesters "became aware" of the plans "through the course of advertising on social media."

Dennis, Gee's childhood friend, told the Enquirer that she was "really scared" when the others arrived. "I was really scared because they were carrying guns and they were so aggressive," she said. "They were grabbing me and grabbing my mom and they just seemed to have no respect for the law."

But despite the dangerous incidents she saw, Cadence Deitsch said she was not afraid of the counter-protesters. "I know what I believe in, and I don't want to let anything get in the way of that, even though they were harassing me," she said. "That's not going to stop me from standing up."

• Read more:
• Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts
• Oregon police told armed white men that they didn't want to look like they were 'playing favorites' when they advised them to stay inside after curfew
• A protester shared her experience on TikTok after being shot in the face with a rubber bullet
• FBI 'has no intelligence' indicating antifa was linked to weekend violence in the George Floyd protests, despite Trump and Republicans' claims