Protesters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, fall as a driver careens into them throughout an indication Friday in opposition to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Photograph: Lyz Lenz)

A truck driver careened into a bunch of demonstrators in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday as they crossed the road throughout an in any other case peaceable protest of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The unidentified male driver of a Ford truck rammed into a number of protesters — all of them ladies — on the tail finish of a procession, rolling over one lady’s ankle and sending her to the hospital, witnesses stated.

“He tried to homicide them,” stated an area journalist and witness to the assault, Lyz Lenz. “These ladies see him coming and a bunch of individuals put their palms out to cease him. And he simply retains going.”

A number of witnesses, together with one of many victims, described the scene in interviews with HuffPost: The male driver was ready behind a number of vehicles at a pink mild downtown as a throng of protesters crossed the road.

He turned “impatient,” as a number of witnesses stated, and hit the fuel, maneuvering round a number of vehicles to ram protesters.

Video taken by Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker reveals a number of ladies standing in entrance of the truck with their arms outstretched, making an attempt to get the motive force to cease. However the driver retains pushing ahead and bowls them over, injuring a number of of them.

One of many demonstrators, Alexis Russell, will be seen within the video holding a protest signal and reaching into the motive force’s facet window because the truck rolls ahead. She instructed HuffPost that she was making an attempt to steer him away from the opposite protesters.

“I had a fight-or-flight response,” Russell instructed HuffPost. “He had his window down. I grabbed the again of the window to maintain up together with his automotive and tried to seize the steering wheel. In some unspecified time in the future he grabbed my signal and ripped it, and I fell, and he proceeded to run over one of many women.”

Russell stated she was “shaken up” however in any other case unhurt. The hospitalized lady, she stated, was “completely distraught.”

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Metropolis Councilwoman Ashley Vanorny confirmed that Cedar Rapids police had been referred to as and had been investigating.

A number of witnesses argued that the assault was motivated by anger over the protest, which was simply certainly one of many who flared up throughout the nation after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom struck down Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Deliberate Parenthood on Friday.

Molly Monk, a witness, instructed HuffPost that the person didn’t give any audible indication that he was anti-abortion, “however he did exit of his technique to hit protesters on the street who had very seen, very clear indicators that they had been pro-choice.”

“It makes me really feel just like the pro-life motion is a very lie if, in an effort to be in opposition to people who find themselves protesting for abortion rights, you attempt to homicide them in my road, in my neighborhood,” stated Monk. “It makes me very, very unhappy, very harm and really indignant that that is what folks suppose pro-life means.”

Regardless of current calls from Republican lawmakers to guard their fellow abortion opponents from hurt within the wake of Friday’s Supreme Courtroom ruling, the anti-abortion motion has a protracted historical past of violence.

Within the final 43 years, anti-abortion activists have dedicated at the least 11 murders, 26 tried murders, 956 identified threats of hurt or loss of life, 614 stalking incidents and 4 kidnappings, in keeping with the Nationwide Abortion Federation. The supposedly “pro-life” motion has bombed 42 abortion clinics, set fireplace to 194 and made 667 bomb threats.

Extra on the Supreme Courtroom abortion ruling:

This text initially appeared on HuffPost and has been up to date.