‘No Kings’ protesters in Virginia and San Francisco struck by motorists

Protesters at “No Kings” events in Culpeper, Virginia, and San Francisco, California, have been struck by motorists, according to local news reports.

The protests are taking place at about 2,000 sites nationwide, from big cities to small towns. A coalition of more than 100 groups planned the protests, which are committed to a principle of nonviolence.

Police in the northern Virginia city of Culpeper identified 21-year-old Joseph R Checklick Jr as the motorist there. No injuries have been reported; police said that they have filed reckless driving charges against Checklick, and that more charges may be filed. Organizers estimated that more than 600 protesters showed up in the town of 21,000.

In San Francisco, at least four “No Kings” protesters in San Francisco were struck by a motorist who then fled the scene, according to NBC News. Law enforcement detained the individual, and stated that the protesters suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, tens of thousands of protesters are filling the streets across the Bay Area. The No Kings protests come on the heels of constant anti-Ice protests in San Francisco in solidarity with the anti-Ice Los Angeles protests.

In response to the protests in Los Angeles this week, Donald Trump deployed the national guard and US marines to the city to crack down on protesters who have demonstrated against his ramped-up deportations, defying state and local authorities in a show of military force that hasn’t been seen in the US since the civil rights era.

Earlier on Saturday, two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, one of whom was killed, were shot in what local officials called a politically motivated attack. The state’s police and governor cautioned people to not attend demonstrations across the state “out of an abundance of caution”.

Minnesota police are still searching for the suspect – whom officials have confirmed is Vance Boelter, 57 – in those shootings, and noted several No Kings protest flyers inside the vehicle.