Intense stand-off witnessed between armed Antifa members, Proud Boys in Texas. See details

A group of heavily armed and masked Antifa protestors, on August 27, showed up at a Texas "drag brunch," which was open to children. The group was holding AR-15-style rifles. The event occurred at Roanoke's Anderson Distillery and Grill. The group showed up at the site to defend those who were in attendance after a group belonging to right-wing extremists arrived at the spot. The second group was also armed with semiautomatic rifles.

Video footage of the incident showed that at least 20 children and several self-proclaimed teachers were attending the event. The video also showed drag queens performing in skimpy outfits. Earlier, Jay Anderson, the distillery owner, had vouched that the event would not feature sexual content, foul language or erotic behaviour.
The drag queens drew a lot of criticism from locals, who did not approve of the procession. Subsequently, several members of conservative groups arrived at the place to stop the event.



'Protect Texas Kids' was one of the protesting groups, while another group named Proud Boys was from the side of counter-protestors. As per the official website of 'Protect Texas Kids', the group aims to protect children from the "indoctrinating" and "toxic" agenda of the left that was assaulting kids' identities, traditional values and core development.

However, soon after the arrival of the conservative groups, the group of masked Antifa protestors also arrived at the restaurant. The two groups eventually engaged in a verbal spat, which was caught on video by a local journalist. Although the face-off between the two factions did not result in any physical violence, the situation had become extremely hostile.

Notably, police personnel was also present at the spot amid tense stand-offs. While informing about the fierce stand-off between the two heavily armed groups, the police stated that no reports or arrests were made. The police said that they were aware of the protests, and personnel were stationed at the spot as a precaution.