Antifa Rumor Explodes on Social Media in Beatrice
BEATRICE – Is a left-wing anti-fascist group known as Antifa coming to Beatrice to protest? That was the rage on social media overnight.
"The reaction that some folks had to it certainly didn't equal the rumors that we had heard that there may be protesters in town. We were prepared, but I think some people in town took that opportunity to exploit that".
Beatrice Police Chief Bruce Lang said it is difficult to pinpoint where the rumor originated from.
"Folks over in Fairbury had information that there were going to be protesters over there..and then that blossomed into they've changed their mind and they're not going to do Fairbury, but come to Beatrice because it's bigger. And, the next thing you know, you've got people who are maybe looking for things to comment or get excited about. I think that's a lot of it".
Lang says there has been some thought that such groups are wanting to move protests into more rural areas….a main street type of approach to expanding their message during a time of protest. He said there’s no hard evidence that’s going to happen here, but if it should….there’s a pattern of how it might happen.
"They primarily focus on government buildings, courthouses, police departments, that type of thing. We were prepared, and still are, if that happens. Just like every police department in America is prepared for it, right now".
Early this morning, a military style vehicle the police department uses was observed parked outside of police headquarters, which Lang says is a part of the preparation.
"Nobody knows what they can control, because nobody knows what they're going to be presented with. You get into a bigger city...let's use Omaha as an example, they've had to tap resources from surrounding agencies to help them. I would anticipate if we had any kind of a protest, or certainly if they got violent, or had the potential to be violent, we would have to ask for assistance from other folks, just because of our numbers...and we are prepared to do that".
The chief says the department did contact the chamber of commerce to alert member businesses about the rumor of potential protests….sort of a heads up that police do when other threats are present.
"We do this with different crime things, for example, if we've got somebody in town that's ....some kind of a fraud crime or something and we have a system to alert each other...it's not normally blasted on social media".
Once this rumor hit social media, Lang says, that’s when it “kind of went south on us”. Wednesday morning, a lone protester with a "Black Lives Matter" sign was observed in the downtown Beatrice area.
