BLM activist honoured by Red Sox arrested for allegedly assaulting elderly woman

A Black Lives Matter leader, who was honored by the Boston Red Sox during an August “Hats off to Heroes” ceremony, typically an occasion to honor military members, was arrested Saturday in Swampscott, Massachusetts for punching an 80-year-old female Trump supporter.

32-year-old Ernst Jean-Jacques Jr. was charged with assault and battery on a person 60 years or older in. Jacques Jr., was released on $550 bail and can be seen in a video posted by Trump supporter and leader of the protest, former local radio host Dianna Ploss, striking an 80-year-old woman, later identified as Swampscott resident Linda Greenberg. Greenberg refused medical attention at the scene.

The alleged assault occurred at 11 A.M. at a weekly Monument Square Trump rally. “It was a powderkeg,” said Swampscott Police Sergeant Jay Locke of the crowd of 40 or 50 people that congregated at Monument Square Saturday. “Just the way people were interacting with one another. This was definitely more aggressive action than in previous weeks. It felt like it was going to be violent at any moment.” The Trump Rallies have been a regular event for the past 35 weeks.

A counterprotest, which according to ItemLive is usually comprised of North Shore residents, was instead made up largely of members of an out-of-town group led by Joseph Castro Del Rio, who was involved in a Saugus protest in October that was similarly confrontational.

Itemlive also claims that the Trump protest was also dominated largely by out-of-towners, created a situation Saturday in which two groups clashed on North Shore turf while actual North Shore residents were barely involved.

In a video recorded by Ploss, Jacques Jr. is seen across a barrier from the Trump supporters dancing to “It’s Raining Men,” which the Trump supporters were playing from a speaker. “It’s raining Trumps,” he sings, through a full black facemask.

Greenberg can be seen making her way through the crowd, approaching Jacques Jr. at the barrier. Water appears to splash onto Jean-Jacques Jr., which causes him to reach across the barrier, appearing to strike the woman in the chest.

The video is obscured during the alleged assault, so a viewer can’t see if his hand connected with the woman but afterwards Greenberg can be seen doubled over and shaking, holding a water bottle.

“She definitely seemed shaken up,” said Locke. According to police, Jean-Jacques Jr. left the scene after appearing to strike Greenberg, was apprehended by police and escorted away in handcuffs. According to Locke, the counter-protestors eventually began to march on the police station, before changing course and marching to Gov. Charlie Baker’s house instead, where they continued demonstrating until about 2 p.m.

The “Hats off to Heroes'' campaign, sponsored by John Hancock, is a typical between-innings promotion like many sports events host. A team will present a video paying tribute to a member of the military, and fans respond with applause. In August, the Red Sox, with permission of their sponsor for the promotion John Hancock, decided to try to appeal to members of the BLM movement, who were rioting across the country, and honor Black Lives Matter leader Jacques Jr. and his “fight against social injustice” instead.

In September, Ernst Jean-Jacques allegedly showed up to disrupt a protest where he threatened and harassed participants as well as allegedly harassing and vandalizing yard signs of local political candidates he opposed.