Even when it’s done peacefully, some protests bring out the worst in people. It can very quickly become an “us versus them” situation, and not everyone escapes unscathed. During a protest at the Portland Music Festival, one woman turned a peaceful situation into something much more extreme. Not only did she earn the nickname of a “Karen,” but she also injured someone in the process.
A video uploaded by Rocking Rebel & Gimli on TikTok shows a woman in a white Tesla surrounded by onlookers. The caption reads, “Karen tried driving into the protest, then hit a cop with her car.” In the background, a woman can be heard speaking into a megaphone. “She hit a pedestrian! If you do not arrest this woman, you are complicit,” she says. She goes on to question again if the cops will arrest her before reading off the woman’s license plate to everyone in the crowd.
The cop speaking to the driver can be heard saying, “I can’t hear,” before leaning in to talk to the woman. It’s unclear what they said, but the driver can be heard saying, “I am so scared.” Several people standing nearby mocked the woman, insinuating that she had no reason to be scared, as she was the perpetrator.
After several seconds, the crowd joined in with the person on the megaphone in yelling, “Get back!” Clapping can be heard as the driver slowly backs up and out of the crowd. As she drives away, the camera zooms in on a bumper sticker that reads, “Trump’s Gestapo not welcome.” Not surprisingly, viewers were unimpressed with the woman’s actions.
“So she strikes a protester with her dangerous weapon and is allowed to remain inside the weapon?” One viewer asked. Another commented, “The way they treat them when they hit a cop with a car compared to us walking down the street is crazy.” Another was brutally honest, saying, “The cop was way too patient with her. We all know what his response would have been if it had been a POC.”
