Three Black Lives Matter activists were charged this week for assaulting a cyclist, harassing diners, and clashing with a manager in a McDonald’s.
The assault and harassment unfolded outside the Sienna Mercato, a restaurant in the city’s Cultural District.
Video footage captured on the scene showed two men striking a cyclist in the head with objects. A short time later, a woman identified as Monique Craft went up to a couple’s table and drank a beverage before shouting at them while another activist, Kenneth McDowell, aka Kenny West, used a megaphone to denounce white people.
Craft is facing charges of theft, conspiracy, and trespassing.
McDowell, who allegedly used the object to hit the cyclist, was charged with conspiracy, harassment, two counts of disorderly conduct, and possessing an instrument of crime.
Shawn Green, also known as Lorenzo Rulli, who is accused of shouting at diners and hitting a table so hard that a glass fell from it, shattering, was charged with disorderly conduct, conspiracy, criminal mischief, and trespassing.
No lawyers were listed.
Green was released after posting $50,000 bail, according to court records. McDowell was being sought, according to the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department. Craft was charged via summons.
Green and McDowell are awaiting preliminary hearings.
Craft’s hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23.
A fourth person is being sought by officials. They have asked the public to help identify him.
Craft and Green are facing charges from unrest over the summer.
Both defended themselves in interviews with local outlets. Green, for instance, said the group was defending themselves against “an agitator in the crowd who was being aggressive and physical with peaceful protesters.”
In a previous statement, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said, “People have the right to dine in public without being accosted and without vulgarities being thrown at them.”
“What we saw this weekend was assault and battery. It was embarrassing. The vast majority of the protests in Pittsburgh have been peaceful, but this weekend was anything but peaceful,” he added.
President Donald Trump indicated he'd seen the videos, tweeting last week that Black Lives Matter protesters “horribly harass elderly Pittsburgh diners, scaring them with loud taunts while taking their food right off their plate.” He called the group “anarchists, not protesters” and “thugs!”
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