APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) — Nearly a dozen volunteers had to be escorted by police out of the Outagamie County Republican Party Headquarters in Appleton Monday night after the building was surrounded by protesters.
Party Chairman Matt Albert says protesters first started arguing with volunteers outside the party headquarters before things escalated and a large crowd gathered.
“They ended up circling behind the building before we could get out, and probably for about…an hour we were surrounded in the office with protesters beating on the windows,” Albert told WTAQ on Tuesday.
Protesters managed to get a hold of, and burned, a Trump-branded facemask right outside the door. Police eventually cleared the protesters out of the back entrance of the building and escorted the volunteers to safety.
“Team members of our SWAT contingent went there in an unmarked van – but it had flashing red and blue lights – they wore uniforms that had Appleton Police Department patches on their backs,” said Officer Meghan Cash. “It’s a technique that’s used to remove and rescue individuals or officers who are in danger. It’s to de-escalate a conflict, rather than inserting a large group of officers into an incident, creating this mass arrest or more dangerous situation.”
In addition, Appleton police wrote the following on inaccurate information being spread about the incident:
“We have seen some inaccurate information that we wish to correct. There were no federal or state agencies involved in providing security at last night’s event. The only law enforcement officers working the event were Appleton Police Department Officers. “
Albert says some volunteers are shook up.
“It’s hard to tell people it’s safe to come down here when this kind of thing happens,” Albert said. “But I’m down here. I’ve got the flag out. I’m not gonna hide from protesters trying to tell me what I can and can’t think.”
Nobody was hurt, and Albert says he’s glad things didn’t get worse.
“I had eleven people in there who were all scared. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise,” Albert said. “It could have gone really poorly because, if the windows broke, we had people concealed carrying inside. That could have turned south really quickly if they had broken in and we had people fearing for their lives.”
Protesters, demonstrating in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, marched in several Northeast Wisconsin cities Monday night.
