Group attacks diners at Chicago area restaurant

[Catbird]

I've been following this story off and on all afternoon because the first reports about it seemed pretty bizarre. I'm surprised that it hasn't been picked up by the national MSM yet (ETA: Except for HuffPo). It's going to be interesting to see what comes of this.

This is how it was first reported by CBS Chicago:

Five men were in custody Saturday night after they allegedly entered a restaurant and began beating patrons gathered for a wedding with bats in southwest suburban Tinley Park.

The attack occurred at the Ashford House Restaurant at 7959 159th St., said Tinley Park Fire Chief Ken Dunn.

The emergency call said a group of 15 people dressed all in black entered the restaurant at approximately 12:45 p.m., according to a police release. They were targeting a specific group of people eating in the restaurant.

The group fled the scene in three vehicles, one of which was apprehended five minutes later...

Other reports said essentially the same thing, except that some reported that the people in the restaurant were having a meeting about an Irish festival. The attackers were all described as wearing black hoodies with their faces covered in bandanas.

Then a little while ago, this came up from The New York Observer:

Anti-Racist Action Group Claims Credit for Attack Inside Chicagoland Restaurant

An Anti-Racist Action group has taken credit for a bizarre attack on a suburban Chicagoland eatery Saturday afternoon. At least ten people meeting inside the Ashford House Restaurant on W. 159th St. in Tinley Park were injured when a group of up to 18 attackers wearing black hoodies and carrying hammers and bats entered and assaulted them.

On AntiRacistAction.org, the group stated the alleged motivation behind the incident:

On Saturday, May 19th a group of 30 anti-fascists descended upon Ashford House restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park where the 5th annual White Nationalist Economic Summit and Illinois White Nationalist Meet-and-Greet was taking place. The White Nationalists were targeted inside the restaurant and physically attacked, causing several injuries and completely shutting down their meeting. The anti-fascist group was privy to anonymous inside information. This fascist event had been in secret planning for six months. The attendees have attempted to cover up the true intent of the event with mainstream media reports initially reporting the white nationalist conference as a wedding party and then as an Irish heritage meeting. The event was advertised on www.stormfront.org, an established white nationalist fascist internet forum.

And now the Chicago Tribune has updated its' reporting.

Officials: Tinley Park melee begun by protesters targeting alleged white supremacists

The melee at a Tinley Park restaurant Saturday appears to have been the work of radical protesters who wanted to attack a gathering of alleged white supremacists, the mayor and a law enforcement source said.

Ten people were injured at the Ashford House Restaurant on 159th Street after 15 to 18 young people, wearing hooded black jackets and wielding bats and hammers, burst inside and attacked another group of 12 to 15 people who were meeting there, officials said.

Mayor Ed Zabrocki said police believe the attackers were from a group called Anti-Racist Action, which on its website described the assault as a strike against a gathering of white supremacists.

The law enforcement source said the victims included several people with ties to a white supremacist group. Zabrocki said that was his understanding, too, but that police were still trying to clarify those links.

[Auburn Boy]

Interesting incident..,

Hmmmm.

[Coyote]

Ten people were injured at the Ashford House Restaurant on 159th Street after 15 to 18 young people, wearing hooded black jackets and wielding bats and hammers, burst inside and attacked another group of 12 to 15 people who were meeting there, officials said.

A few armed individuals could have settled this in short order.

[flowerchild]

Originally Posted by Coyote

A few armed individuals could have settled this in short order.

One of the attacked was in possession of a firearm. He was also arrested for it, because he had it illegally due to the fact he was a convicted felon.

[Catbird]

There is probably more to this story that hasn't been figured out yet, or at least isn't public yet. There are some reports that there was an ongoing "feud" in online chat rooms prior to the attack.

Chicago Sun-Times:

Authorities charged five Indiana men Monday with a weekend attack in which a group of masked assailants wielding bats and batons stormed a Tinley Park restaurant in broad daylight, beating diners they believed were connected to a white supremacist group.

Two of the people attacked at the restaurant also are facing charges.

...The five men from Indiana were charged with mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property...

...Two of the victims were also arrested: Steven Eugene Speers, 33, of Grand Forks, N.D., was arrested on a warrant for possession of child pornography from Dallas County, Texas; and Francis John Gilroy, Jr., 65, of West Palm Beach, Fla. was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, police said.

...A meeting for May 19 and 20 “in the Chicago area” is touted at www.stormfront.org, an Internet forum for white supremacy groups. Visitors are asked to send their checks to the Wood River-based Illinois European Heritage Association, which claims associations with White News Now and Storm Front. The site said the focus of the meeting was economic networking, adding: “Folks helping folks. Work for Whites. It is time we took our jobs back!”

[Potemkin]

Fark racism but because someone is racist doesn't give another group justification for aggravated assault.

Counterprotest (even hard counterprotest) yes, assault not.

This activity is counterproductive to your cause.