Pro-Mask Rally in Austin Didn't Spiral Out of Control
The Claim
A pro-mask rally in Austin spiraled out of control when pro-maskers attacked anti-maskers.
News posted on
Emerging story
On March 8th, 2021, the channel War Room With Owen Shroyer uploaded a video with the title “Pro-Mask Rally In Austin Texas Spirals Out Of Control.”
The one hour long video soon gained over 300,000 views and was shared across social media platforms, with many claiming that the pro-mask protestors attacked anti-maskers.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that the people protesting in the video were mostly self-proclaimed service workers demanding access to vaccines and protesting Texas Governor Gregg Abbott’s decision to lift Texas’s coronavirus restrictions.
We watched the full video and found that the claim that the protest “spirals out of control” is hyperbolic.
The strongest reaction from the crowd in the video comes at the 41-minute- mark of the video, when Shroyer shouts through a megaphone to the crowd. He says things such as, "Now that you guys have finally subdued your communist energy, I want you to know that there was no pandemic." In response, the crowd starts booing at Shroyer. There is no physical violence or other aggressive behavior that could deem the protest “out of control.” However, since we recognize that “out of control” is subjective, we rate this claim as misleading.
