N.Y. vendor attacked for showing American flag instead of gay pride flag

Celebrating one’s “marginalized-group” status is increasingly becoming an excuse for vandalism and violence, it seems. First it was Black Lives Matter destroying property and looting stores; now gay pride marchers are running wild and disturbing the peace.

After gay pride marches on June 27, a violent gay-proud mob attacked food vendors outside Washington Square Park in New York City, tearing down the American flag one had hanging on his cart and flinging a can of soda can at another, two victims told The New York Post the following day.

Revelers pumped up by Pride Parade celebrations earlier in the day demanded Abdo Mansour replace his American flag with a Pride flag, Mansour said.

“They said, ‘Take that f—ing flag down. Why don’t you put up my flag?’” Mansour said. “And they broke my American flag.”

Police who are facing waves of political and media opposition were slow to intervene, he said.

“I called the cops. They didn’t want to come. The cops stayed right there. How many minutes the cops were waiting to see what happened? It was like 15 minutes,” he added. “A lot of people came. They broke stuff, they stole money.”

Another vendor described being asked by three women to provide ice. He refused to give them any and one threw a can of soda at him and cut his arm.

“I told them, ‘I have ice for the soda. That’s it,’” Hassan Gabr said. “‘ … One of them took a can of soda from the refrigerator and threw it at me.”

Video from the incident shows a woman punching a yet another vendor, a 65-year-old man, in the face, and knocking him down as police step in.

Eight people were arrested in the fracas, including a woman who bit an NYPD officer, police said.