A video emerged on social media on Sunday showing a white couple pointing guns at protesters in St. Louis as they marched towards the mayor’s home to demand her resignation.
In the video, the unidentified couple shouted at protesters, while people in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them.
The group of at least 500 people were heading toward Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home, chanting, “Resign Lyda, take the cops with you,” news outlets reported.
What a video by @xshularx.
A white couple emerges from their mansion, barefoot and carrying guns, to confront Black Lives Matters protesters going past. St Louis, Missouri. pic.twitter.com/OiBZ0MtdUC
— Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) June 29, 2020
The protest came two days after a Facebook Live news briefing in which Krewson read the names and street addresses of protesters who are calling on the city to defund the police department, a move which the ACLU called “shocking and misguided” and resulted in online backlash.
An online petition started over the weekend calling for her to resign has more than 40,000 signatures.
On Friday night, however, Mayor Krewson issued a statement apologizing for her actions.
“In an effort to be transparent and accessible to the public during the Covid-19 pandemic, for more than three months now I have been doing tri-weekly community updates on Facebook. Tonight, I would like to apologize for identifying individuals who presented letters to me at City Hall as I was answering a routine question during one of my updates earlier today. While this is public information, I did not intend to cause distress or harm to anyone. The post has been removed,” the statement reads.
The St Lous couple incident has however generated lots of reactions on social media with many knocking the couple for their action.
See some reactions below:
What a video by @xshularx.
A white couple emerges from their mansion, barefoot and carrying guns, to confront Black Lives Matters protesters going past. St Louis, Missouri. pic.twitter.com/OiBZ0MtdUC
— Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) June 29, 2020
The media is losing their minds over the St. Louis couple brandishing guns.
But I'll bet you most Americans are thinking "We can't call the cops…what else can we do?"
The disconnect is huge.
I bet this causes another surge in gun sales.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) June 29, 2020
The white couple in St Louis with weapons are idiots. I support their 2A rights but not their stupidity. She had no idea what she was doing with her elbow bent, randomly pointing it, and her finger on the trigger. Hubby struggling with sling looking like a fool.
— B K (@cre8vladyb) June 29, 2020
St Louis, US last night. BLM were making their way to the mayor’s house, in a gated estate, to protest her releasing all the names & address of protestors – putting them at risk from white supremacists. That’s a weapon of war the man is clutching. pic.twitter.com/K3TZ0nQX56
— Dr Robert Bohan Artist (@RobertBohan) June 29, 2020