- Three colleges in Vancouver, Washington went on lockdown when a gaggle of Proud Boys tried to enter the college grounds.
- Members of the far-right group had been on the college campus protesting masks necessities for college kids and lecturers.
- The group tried to escort a pupil in search of a medical exemption to carrying a masks into the constructing.
Three colleges in Washington state went on lockdown on Friday after a crowd of far-right protestors.
Members of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group tied to the Proud Boys, assembled exterior of Skyview High School on Friday in Vancouver to protest towards face masks necessities. Many wore signature Proud Boys colours, yellow and black, in accordance to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Some college students and lecturers in favor of masks confirmed up to counterprotest.
Washington state requires face masks for all workers and college students, in accordance to the Department of Health.
Some of the Patriot Prayer protesters at Skyview tried to escort a pupil who was in search of a medical exemption for carrying a masks right into a constructing, which prompted intervention from the college’s safety guards. According to OPB, the protestors falsely claimed that the scholar had been threatened with arrest in the event that they entered the college and not using a masks.
The pupil’s mom, Megan Gabriel, informed OPB that the scholar couldn’t put on a masks as a result of they had been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction and nervousness, and carrying a masks may set off a panic assault. Gabriel added that their requested medical exemption was denied.
Following the confrontation, Skyview High School and colleges in shut proximity — Alki Middle School and Chinook Elementary — had been positioned on lockdown, in accordance to KGW8.
“As a security precaution, Skyview, Alki and Chinook had been put right into a lockdown on Sept. 3 due to a disturbance by protesters who tried to come onto Skyview’s campus,” stated Patricia Nuzzo, communications director for Vancouver Public Schools, in accordance to KGW8. “This is expounded to yesterday’s protest towards Washington state’s requirement for workers and college students to put on masks or face coverings in colleges and on buses.”
Nuzzo informed OPB that she could not converse concerning the pupil’s case for confidentiality causes however that VPS does present lodging for individuals who qualify by working “with the scholar’s household to contemplate all needed info together with documentation from the well being supplier.”
Kyle Sproul, college board president of VPS, stated the lockdown had been carried out for the scholars’ security, in accordance to AP News.
“Regardless of 1’s stance on masks mandates, I believe most dad and mom in our neighborhood agree that protesting at our college campuses and disrupting the college day shouldn’t be in the very best curiosity of scholars,” Sproul stated.
A spokesperson for Vancouver Public Schools didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.
A pupil informed OPB that lecturers guarded the doorways in the course of the lockdown, evaluating it to a faculty capturing drill.
“All the educational will get disrupted. We have to sit down quietly, not make noise, and we had been hunkered down in our school rooms for round an hour to an hour-and-a-half,” the scholar stated, including that some college students had been harassed by the protestors exterior the constructing.
