One person was arrested after three pro-Israel activists were beaten at a North Carolina anarchist book fair on Saturday, the Asheville Police Department and victims said.
Police said on Monday that they were still investigating the alleged assault at the ACAB Bookfair at the West Asheville Library.
The three victims were checked by emergency services for minor injuries.
Monica Buckley, David Moritz, and eighty-year-old veteran Bob Campbell shared on social media and with the police that they had attended the “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” seminar and live-streamed the event before being confronted by other participants.
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Buckley published a video on Sunday in which one participant alerted the speaker that Zionists were filming the seminar.
The speaker, either Idris or Adi, according to the book fair schedule, asked the crowd of 80 to 100 people what they wanted to do with the three pro-Israel activists. The anarchists surrounded Buckley and Moritz to block their cameras. Moritz, with bruises on his face, explained in a Saturday social media video that they began to push the three in their seats.
Buckley’s phone was grabbed from her hand, and when she attempted to retrieve it was punched. Moritz said that he attempted to aid Buckley but was also punched repeatedly and put in a headlock.One person could be heard saying that they were going to throw the phone against a wall.
Attempting to expel pro-Israelis
The anarchists allegedly attempted to expel the pro-Israel activists from the library, during which Campbell reportedly fell to the ground.
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“I don’t give a f*** about your age,” a voice could be heard in Buckley’s recording.
Moritz said that the library had further footage of the assault, and he would be pressing charges.
Taylor Danielle Zarkin, 35, was charged with two counts of resisting, delay, and obstruction during the initial investigation.
Moritz said the three had attended the event out of curiosity, and that they wouldn’t have gone if it was a private event rather than one billed as open to all and held at a public library. Moritz also said that they had complied with rules to wear medical masks. He said that they had sat quietly until they were assaulted.
The schedule for the seminar offered to teach the “strategic practices” developed by “Palestinian resistance groups” over 75 years.
“What can revolutionaries in ‘the West’ learn from the Palestinian resistance, now that the struggle to stop the genocide in Gaza and free Palestine spreads to this terrain?” read the schedule.
Buckley said the speaker had started his lecture praising the October 7 massacre.