NEW YORK — Minutes after an event at a Manhattan Republican club meant to celebrate violence against leftists, attendees belonging to a proto-fascist, pro-Trump street gang reportedly pummeled three people on the sidewalk in Manhattan’s Upper East Side while shouting homophobic slurs. Footage posted online by video journalist Sandi Bachom shows a group of men who appear to be Proud Boys — a misogynistic and anti-Muslim fraternity known for committing acts of political violence across the country — kicking and punching three apparent anti-fascist protesters as they lay prone on the sidewalk. “Do you feel brave now, faggot?” one of the attackers yelled, according to Bachom and another journalist, photographer Shay Horse. Another video shows multiple attackers yelling “faggot.”

Both Bachom and Horse told HuffPost they believed the altercation began when three anti-fascist protesters knocked a red “Make America Great Again” hat off a Proud Boy member’s head. But then, the two journalists recounted, the confrontation turned into a mob assault, with Proud Boys vastly outnumbering the anti-fascists. “They turned it into a pummeling,” Horse said. “This was three people on the ground and people just kicking the shit out of them.” The violence occurred just minutes after roughly 30 apparent Proud Boys exited the Metropolitan Republican Club, the GOP’s headquarters in New York City, where Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes had been invited to give a speech.

This is one of those nights where things seem even more fucked up when editing/reviewing my photos. It wasn’t until I wanna editing that I realized how many fights were happening at once. pic.twitter.com/rRcXV5nXWJ — Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) October 13, 2018

McInnes billed the event as an anniversary celebration to lionize a Japanese ultranationalist who assassinated the head of the Japanese Socialist Party with a sword on Oct. 12, 1960. McInnes wrote on Instagram this week that he would be “re-enacting this inspiring moment at the Metropolitan Club.” A video posted on Twitter by Fox News shows McInnes waving a sword outside the event. Fox News misleadingly implied in its tweet that “antifa” — or anti-fascists — had been responsible for the sword and the violence.

The dude with the sword? That’s Gavin McInnes, founder of the far-right fascist gang the Proud Boys. The vandalism? No evidence that it’s “antifa.” The violence? Videos from last night show abt 20 Proud Boys beating 3 people while they’re on the ground.



This is so infuriating https://t.co/AaIM5gpmqL — Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 13, 2018

According to Bachom and Horse, some 50 anti-fascists protested outside McInnes’ appearance at the Metropolitan Republican Club. “Kill more Nazis!” they chanted at one point. Video footage from Bachom shows dozens of apparent Proud Boys piling out of the club as anti-fascists chant after them. Cops kept the two sides separated, Bachom said. The violent confrontation occurred just a few minutes later, when three or so anti-fascists confronted the attendees on 82nd Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, she said. The footage shows cops arriving on the scene and eventually breaking up the fight, but then allowing the Proud Boys — group members are known for wearing black Fred Perry polo shirts — to walk away from the scene. Bachom’s footage shows them then walking through the streets of Manhattan, belting out chants of “Uhuru” and “I like beer!” — a reference to the U.S. Senate testimony of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a girl when he was in high school. The group even felt emboldened enough to pose for a photo:

The Proud Boys even waited to do a group photo after the fights. They were hyped the fuck up after that. Flashing their white power hand symbol before marching towards a downtown train. pic.twitter.com/JP6jiM8Yud — Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) October 13, 2018