Americans who targeted anti-racist protesters plead guilty

A couple of Americans who brandished weapons in front of anti-racist protesters a year ago pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to close a high-profile case.

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Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to

and was fined 2,000 dollars, her husband Mark admitted to having committed a

and received a sentence of 750 dollars, told AFP Tom Gross, the spokesperson for the court in St. Louis, Missouri. They thus avoid a trial and heavier penalties, which could have been accompanied by the prohibition on possessing firearms.

In June 2020, when the United States was crossed by a huge mobilization against police violence and racism, this couple of lawyers, both white and in their sixties, hit the headlines by pointing their guns at peaceful protesters to keep them away from their rich property. The video, showing them barefoot on the front porch of their house, with a semi-automatic rifle for him and a handgun for her, had gone viral. Donald Trump, then president, had retweeted it without comment.

The web was torn between the detractors of the couple, erected as a symbol of privileged and racist white Americans, and their defenders, for whom they were honest citizens forced to defend their property in the face of the surrounding disorder. Mark and Patricia McCloskey had been guest of honor at the Republican national convention the following summer, and he recently declared himself running for the Republican primary for senatorial position in Missouri.

he said in the video announcing his campaign.