Moms are often their children’s protectors, but now a group of moms known as a Wall of Moms is protecting the children of others who are peacefully protesting across the United States. According to BuzzFeed, photos of these moms have been going viral.
As the photos show there is a group of about thirty moms seen creating a protective wall around the peaceful protesters of Portland, Oregon. The human shield they created was to protect the protestors from the officers sent to control the protest.
Wall of Moms Acts as Human Shield for Peaceful Protesters
The moms were all dressed in white, wearing bike helmets and masks, as they chanted, “Feds stay clear! Moms are here!” and “Leave our kids alone!”
And when the officers began using tear gas and flash bombs to try to disperse the nearly 400 people who had come together that Saturday night, the moms stayed put, standing their ground for hours. Protestors have claimed that the federal officers, who were deployed on President Donald J. Trump’s behalf, “were violating their civil rights by roaming the streets in unmarked vans and detaining people without probable cause,” BuzzFeed reported.
Bev Barnum, the organizer of “Wall of Moms,” told BuzzFeed that their mission is simple. It is “about protecting peaceful citizens’ right to protest.”
Barnum, who is a mother of two, said she was inspired to call on other moms via Facebook after she saw a video that angered her. According to BuzzFeed, the viral video “showed two armed and unidentified federal officers exiting an unmarked van, grabbing a person, and escorting them to a vehicle.”
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“As most of you have read and seen on the news, protestors are being hurt (without cause),” Barnum wrote on the Facebook page she created. “And as of late, protestors are being stripped of their rights by being placed in unmarked cars by unidentifiable law enforcement. We moms are often underestimated, but we’re stronger than we’re given credit for. So what do you say, will you stand with me? Will you help me create a wall of moms?”
Barnum told the publication that she hoped to use the “privilege” of being “white-appearing” to shield the protesters, “whom officers were more likely to target.” And although she believed authorities showed some restraint, sadly, the Wall of Moms was subjected to the violence they were protecting others from.
According to BuzzFeed, Oregon’s state attorney general sued several of the federal agencies sent by President Trump for “overstepping their powers and injuring or threatening peaceful protesters on the streets of Downtown Portland.” No one in the group was arrested.
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