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EXCLUSIVE: A neighbor of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh says the pro-choice protesters who have marched multiple times a week down their street in the evening have shaken up residents’ homes and disrupted their lives – as they detailed the alleged abuse received by neighbors from protesters, while saying authorities have done little to help them.
The neighbor, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, said that while there had been intermittent protests before, they picked up after the leak of the draft court opinion that would overturn the Roe v Wade abortion ruling.
Protestors and drummers marched outside of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house after an alleged assassination attempt.
(Fox News)
The neighbor said that it was overwhelmingly people from outside the area who were organizing the protests, not people from the area — and specified how it was both a regular occurrence, and organized.
“They are people who come from out of the area. They have a staging point in a parking lot fairly nearby,” the source said.
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Protesters typically appear two evenings a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and come in the evening at around 7pm — when many of the local residents are putting their children to bed, a task made difficult when loud protesters are marching up and down the street.
“That’s when people are putting their kids to bed, there’s little kids who live on the street. It’s a horrific experience,” the source said. “It’s not great if you have kids of any age, but it’s unbelievably stressful and the kids are very upset, the kids have to be sent inside and it’s so loud you can’t put your kids to sleep.”
“They picked the exact time and they don’t care,” they said. “Literally, there’s no way on a Wednesday night you can put your kid to bed.”
While there are ground rules set by law enforcement, the source said the protesters are loud and intimidating, with chants that warn of riots if they don’t get what they want – and there have been instance of protesters abusing the neighbors as well, they said.
“They have drummers, they have a megaphone, and they chant, they yell all kinds of things… They have told neighbors ‘f**k you, f**k your children, things like that — and so they’re abusive towards the neighbors and intimidating.”
CHEVY CHASE, MD: Protesters march past Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home.
(Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“They go in the street. We’ve been told that because they will move eventually when a car comes down the street, they’re not technically blocking the street,” they said.
The resident notes that there are noise ordinances that limit things like leaf blowers, and yet those ordinances are apparently not followed by the protesters.
“What we’ve also been told is that this is ‘behaving within the bounds of the law’ and the only law that could be enforced is the federal law that they’re not supposed to protest outside the home of judicial officers, but the federal partners declined to enforce that law,” they said.
The neighbor stressed that the lots are relatively small, meaning the houses are right up near the street where the protesters are yelling and chanting.
“There’s nowhere to go to get away from it,” they said. “I think people are very concerned that if there isn’t action taken, that this will escalate in a way that is very unpredictable and very unsafe and that’s what’s so discouraging, is the fact that there just doesn’t seem to be anyone in a position of leadership or authority who is considering those issues and acting on them and trying to look for a solution rather than just allowing this possibly to escalate.”
Officials have expressed concern about the security situation related to the leak of the draft opinion. A recent Homeland Security Department report said the draft opinion has unleashed a wave of threats against officials and others and increased the likelihood of extremist violence. That was highlighted on Wednesday when Nicholas John Roske was arrested early Wednesday near Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after threatening to kill the justice. Police said he was carrying a gun, a knife and zip ties.
Some may have expected that the protests would have held off in the wake of the arrest of Roske, who was later charged with the attempted murder of Kavanaugh. But within hours of the arrest, that same evening, the protesters were back.
“They had a lot of camera crews, obviously, who were here for the news,” the neighbor said. “So they came, they had more drums, more noise. They were very, very loud, very, very aggressive. They dance in the streets as well…I mean, it’s very unnerving. And there’s no consideration given to the neighbors — we’re expected to just take it.”
The neighbor said that there had been very little communication from law enforcement and that the community is feeling “very worn down.”
“We’ve also been told repeatedly, just anecdotally, like in casual conversation, you can’t engage with these people. They have no filter. They will have no regard for your personal property or your personal safety. So don’t engage with them. So we’re basically being told that these people are not safe.”
“It takes away your sense of security,” they said. “We have no idea who could embed themselves in this group of protesters.”
The neighbor stressed that no-one was blaming Kavanaugh himself for the protests that have descended upon the area: “Him and his family are suffering more than any of the rest of us.“
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The neighbor said they were hopeful that once the reported opinion itself was handed down, maybe some weeks after that things would simmer down — but warned that the protests in their neighborhood had much broader implications.
The neighbor also challenged politicians who believe that such protests are fine because they are peaceful to open up their neighborhoods to similar protests and make their addresses available to the public.
“Let people know and encourage them to come to your neighborhood and do the same to voice their views. Because it can’t be selective,’ they said.
