Violence erupted in Los Angeles outside an upscale spa after a viral video circulated on social media of a woman complaining a transgender guest exposed themselves to women and underage girls in the spa's females-only area.
The dueling protests came outside of the Wi Spa, 2700 Wilshire Blvd. in the Koreatown neighborhood in Los Angeles between trans-rights supporters and those opposing the spa's policy of permitting women, including trans women with male genitalia, to fully disrobe.
The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly by 12:30 p.m. local time and officers in riot gear moved the crowds off the street. Demonstrators set a dumpster fire and screamed in the faces of police, according to CBS Los Angeles.
The factions were protesters of the spa's policy and the SoCal antifa group, according to the report.
Video showed the black-clad antifa counter-protesters spraying spa protesters "with an unidentified substance, pushing them, punching them and demanding that they leave the area," according to CBS.
Antifa rioters followed a wounded man down a sidewalk, taunting him before he reached the safety of police, and others dressed in black were seen pushing and beating at least two others while they were on the ground, CBS reported.
A shirtless man with nunchucks was arrested by police after swinging the weapon at a group of the protesters dressed in black.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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