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Black Lives Matter Protester Beaten And Called ‘Monkey’ At Donald Trump Rally [VIDEO]

By Val Powell
Published on: 17:39 PST, Nov 22, 2015

A black protester got beaten up and mocked after interrupting a Donald Trump campaign rally in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday.

The Black Lives Matter protester, Mercutio Southall Jr. said a crowd of white attendees punched, choked, and kicked him at the rally, although he was not seriously injured. He also received racial slurs during the altercation at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

Southall, 31, was reportedly shouting “black lives matter” and “Dump the Trump” at the rally. He came with two other BLM protesters that day. The protester told AL.com that it all began when his fellow BLM protester was recording a video of the rally, and one of the attendees knocked the phone out of the other protester’s hand.

“They said ‘Go home, n****r, and somebody punched me,” Southall recalled. “I punched back. You know don’t do the turn-the-other-cheek (expletive).”

He said people began pushing him and punching him from every direction until he found a pile of white supporters on top of him. The protester said supporters – both men and women – kicked him while he was on the ground.

“I got enough people off of me that I was able to get up a little bit,” the beaten protester said. “Somebody got behind me and started trying to choke me out.”

The Washington Post confirms that a white man punched the activist and tried to choke him. CNN also confirmed Southall’s claims that he was shoved and kicked by a female Trump supporter.

Southall added that they were called “monkeys” at the event, and told that their lives do not matter. He said he was used to it, and pretty much expected it every day.

“We’re not the Negros from the ’60s. I believe in defending myself, defending my people, and sticking up for my people,” he said, adding he is not violent, and does not threaten to blow up people. “Self-preservation is an instinct every creature has and we deserve respect.”

An event staff member had reportedly asked the protesters to refrain from interrupting the event. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, two of the three protesters toned down but one continued. A staff member said they thought the protester was provoking the crowd with his words, saying he was “being disruptive,” and was chanting “phrases that were really firing up the crowd around him.”

Trump then ordered the security personnel to take the man out. The brawl was caught on video by CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond. Campaign Spokesperson Hope Hicks told CNN that they do not tolerate such violent behavior so they immediately removed the activists.

CNN Captures Protester Beaten Up By Trump Supporters

Police and Secret Service personnel led him out of the venue while someone yelled “all lives matter.” No one was arrested after the incident, according to Birmingham authorities, and Southall was not injured.

The protester said he would be glad to support a police investigation and press criminal charges against those who assaulted him.

Trump’s Birmingham campaign rally was not the first time supporters of the GOP candidate had gotten physical with activists. In a Miami campaign back in October, a protester was violently removed from the event, despite orders to not hurt the guy. Another brawl in August, stemming from Trump’s immigration speech, led to the arrest of two Trump supporters. The supporters were arrested for beating up a homeless Latino man.

In his speech on Saturday, the Republican presidential hopeful talked about his idea of creating a database to keep tabs of every single Muslim in the U.S. He also said he wants surveillance and database for Syrian refugees and mosques, as well.

[Images by Scott Olson/Getty Images]

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