A white couple pointed their weapons protesters in San Luis as a group they marched to the mayor’s house to demand his resignation. A video on social media showed the armed couple standing outside their large home on Sunday night in the upscale Central West End neighborhood of Missouri City.
In the video, the unidentified couple yelled at protesters as people on the march marched the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them.
The woman is seen aiming a pistol at the crowd. A man is seen holding a rifle.
The video was shared thousands of times on social media Sunday night, says KMOV-TV, an affiliate of CBS St. Louis.
On Monday morning, President Trump retweeted the video of the incident.
It was not immediately clear if the St. Louis police were aware of the incident. An email and a phone call from The Associated Press to police were not immediately answered.
The group of at least 500 people was on their way to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house, singing, “Give up Lyda, take the police with you,” the media reported.
The resignation demands come after a live Facebook briefing on Friday in which Krewson read the names and addresses of several residents who wrote letters to the mayor suggesting that she ransack the police department.
The video was removed from Facebook and Krewson apologized on Friday, saying he “was not intended to cause distress.”
But a Krewson spokesperson told KMOV that he will not resign. “He apologized, acknowledges that he made a mistake, and has absolutely no intention of resigning,” the spokesman said.
The names and letters are considered public records, but Krewson’s actions received a strong reaction.
An online petition calling for his resignation had more than 43,000 signatures as of Monday morning.
“As a leader, you don’t do things like that … it’s okay for us to visit her at her home,” said State Representative Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis speaking into a megaphone at the Sunday protest.
KMOV said St. Louis Councilwoman Megan Ellyia Green tweeted, “So it’s not great to upset my constituents who support #DefundThePolice on their live FB. It’s a movement designed to silence dissent, and it’s dangerous.” Doxing refers to disclosing private or identifying information with malicious intent.
The Missouri ACLU released a statement saying what Krewson did was “shocking and wrong,” adding that reading the information aloud “has no apparent purpose beyond intimidation,” according to KMOV.
St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones also tweeted: “The mayor’s actions not only endanger his citizens, but they are also reckless,” echoing Krewson’s calls for resignation.
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