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Video released by Fort Worth police Monday evening appears to show a man pepper-spraying anti-drag protesters outside of a drag show over the weekend.
Three people were arrested Sunday following an altercation between a group that defends drag shows and members of “Protect Texas Kids,” who were protesting across the street from a drag show at Fort Brewery & Pizza, police said.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, officers saw one of the counterprotesters, later identified by police as Samuel Fowlkes, 20, walk up to one of the members of the anti-drag protest and pepper spray them, police said. The incident was caught on a city camera near the location, according to police.
Counterprotesters were “dressed in black, wearing helmets and outer tactical vests,” police said, adding that “many of them were armed with handguns and long guns.”
Officers tried to arrest Fowlkes, who evaded authorities. Body-worn camera shared by the Fort Worth Police Department showed a different counterprotester, identified by police as Christopher Guillott, 33, trying to push back officers with an umbrella he was carrying.
Guillott struck one of the officers in the face and arrested, police said.
In video shared by police, an officer could be heard saying, “Do not reach for that gun. You will get shot if you reach for that gun.”
While authorities were trying to create a perimeter around Fowlkes, Guillott and the officers arresting them, Meghan Grant, 37, who was with the counterprotester group, “attempted to charge past” them “multiple times,” police said.
Video shows a woman approaching officers and asking why another person was being detained. She’s pushed back by officers repeatedly before being arrested.
“Our main goal during any protest event is to provide a safe environment that respects all participant’s constitutional rights, while effectively maintaining public peace and order,” the department said in a written statement.
Guillott, a Denton County resident, faces charges of assaulting a peace officer and interfering with public duties. Grant, of Dallas County, faces charges of resisting arrest and interfering with public duties. Fowlkes, a Parker County resident, faces charges of resisting and evading arrest, assaulting a peace officer and four charges of assault with bodily injury.
Both the anti-drag demonstrators and counterprotesters shared videos of the incident on social media.
The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club described the three arrested as “community members and medics,” in a tweet asking supporters to donate to their bail fund. The club has criticized Fort Worth police’s handling of the Sunday incident and treatment of counterprotesters.
Drag shows in North Texas have been at the center of tension between those who support the performances and others who have pushed for a ban on them. Last year, neo-Nazis and leftist gun groups faced off at a drag show in Grand Prairie.
Many business owners who host drag shows in North Texas have said they will continue organizing similar events despite a growing number of threats against them.