Video: 2020 in review: Pandemic, uprising, and a violent transition of power

Video: 2020 in review by Iron Snowflake 21 min 16 sec, link is fixed

Content warning! This is the most violent year I have ever seen in DC and the US. Video include two murders by police, the resulting long hot summer of fighting, fireworks used as artillery, and brutal fighting against the Proud Boys on Nov 14 and Dec 12.

1: Jan-March: The year begins normally:

The year begins normally enough, with the doomed attempt to impeach Trump and protests surrounding it, plus the ongoing pipeline campaigns.Soon however, the Covid pandemic arrived and everything went NUTS.

2: March-May The Covid plague arrives:

As soon as the store shelves were stripped of toilet paper and cleaning products, it was clear something was very wrong. Fearing martial law, the author of this video fled DC to link up with friends wintering in FL after Trump's speech about "War" and MD's National Guard callup. They returned when the martial law talk died, only to have to flee again when MD's governor blustered about putting people in jail for leaving their homes as the stay-at-home orders descended. In this dark time things kept happening in DC, notably campaigns to release prisoners so they could avoid the virus, and protests for essential workers and support for the Amazon strikers on and around Mayday. All these protests were in open defiance of stay at home orders. This is followed in the video by an interlude of footage from the gorgeous Rocky Mountains.

3: May-Aug-George Floyd and the long hot summer:

Mid-May the author returns, and two weeks later the whole US explodes after the brutal police knee in the neck murder of George Floyd.This was caught on video (warning-it's in this video!) and nobody could deny what the Minneapolis cops had done. DC like most big cities absolutely EXPLODED on the last weekend of May. Intense urban combat footage here: fire, smoke, smashed and burning police cars and buildings. Graffiti everywhere, and then Trump's infamous use of tear gas to clear H st so he could pose with a Bible outside St John's Church. Black Lives Matter Plaza painted by the Mayor, but it is a war zone and Bowser's words ring hollow.

Previously published battlefield footage from the Black House Autonomous Zone, the teardown of the Albert Pike statue, and the hard push to remove the Andrew Jackson statue. In one day, Black Lives Matter plaza changes hands three time.

In August the fighting in Portland takes an ugly turn as Trump deploys Federal police for illegal snatch and grab "arrests." The famous bombardment and siege of the so-called "Justice Center" and solidarity actions for Portland here in DC. Things continue to escalate. Rich diners at a restaurant SPIT at the They/Them march (in a pandemic), police kill again, and the shooting begins. One fascist shot dead in Portland, buy Kyle Rittenhouse shoots three of us, leaving two dead and one with permanent injuries.

Sep-Nov: Election and fears of civil war.

We start seeing more liberals in the streets for a while. Supreme Court justice Ruth Ginsberg dies, and Trump nominates Amy Coney Barret to represent HIM on the court in her place. This is to help with stealing the election. The far right begins to make themselves a presence in DC streets. In the last week of October, police killings first in Philly and then DC(Karon Hylton) explode those two cities again. Siege and bombardment of MPD's 4th district substation, including that famous fireworks blast against the building.

Nov 3-7: Trump loses election!

All are on edge as the votes are counted, Trump is decisively defeated but Biden is worth nearly nothing on demands like abolishing police and prisons. Same on pipelines, fracking and mines on Indigenous land. Far right starts going NUTS and talk of civil war continues. Liberals swarm the streets like V-J day when the election is called for Biden, only to cravenly tell people to stay home when Trump supporters invade the city just a week later.

Nov 14-Dec 31: the coup attempt in the streets

Nov 14, Million Magat March, 10,000 plus Trumpers. Brutal street battles with armed Proud Boys. Hundreds of antifa and Black Lives Matter activists fight desperately to hold the line as the Proud Boys hunt in the streets for Black, Brown, and GLBTQ people. An all-out march by Proud Boys on Black Lives Matter Plaza is stopped but at a heavy price. Three of us are stabbed. Covid spreads in the wake of thousands of unmasked Trump supporters in hotels and Harry's Bar.

Dec 12, second Million Magat March. Seven HUNDRED Proud Boys swarm the city. The city's defenders fight a desperate "brushfire" battle as Proud Boys systematically search for any hole in defenses that would allow them to carry out their stated aim of invading and destroying Black Lives Matter Plaza. In the end, the defenses hold and the Plaza is held-barely.Fights everywhere, and finally the Proud Boys attack churches. The Proud Boys burn the Black Lives Matter banner stolen from Ashbury Methodist on video, footage looks like they are pissing lighter fluid onto it.

Dec 19: Karon Hylton's mother arrested in another protest at 4D

Final scene: Your vidoegrapher "Iron Snowflake" dons armor, helmet and shield to get ready for 2021: see you in the streets Jan 6, 17, and J20!