Sunday’s protest, billed as Bethel’s Solidarity with Black Lives Demonstration, was expected to have a turnout of 80 to 100 people. But soon, per a joint statement by the village’s mayor, chief of police and administrator, “several motorcycle gangs, back the blue groups, and second amendment advocates” caught wind of the event and decided to show up,
armed with guns and bats.
An hour before the event was scheduled to begin, village officials said, 250 motorcycles flooded the area. By the protest’s official start time, the demonstrators were outnumbered and around 800 people were present.
At the same time, most of the police stationed to monitor the event were called away. All six of Bethel’s police officers had been assigned to the event, and six more from nearby Clermont County were on standby. But, per village officials, another “urgent matter in the county” meant that all but one of the officers were absent from the scene as the counter-protesters descended on the area. Eventually, nine deputies were called in as backup.
Though police called the influx of counter-protesters “manageable,” video shows several instances in which nothing separated the angry crowd from the demonstrators. In some cases, violence ensued.
“Towards the latter part of the event, the various other groups began to move toward the Bethel’s Solidarity with Black Lives Demonstration area,” the officials said. “This resulted in approximately 10 incidents, which were primarily minor scuffles.”
