GAINESVILLE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Two pro-abortion activists are facing felony charges for allegedly committing a robbery and violently resisting arrest during a peaceful pro-life demonstration at an American university.
21-year-old Ian Dinkla and 26-year-old Bryn Taylor are each facing felony charges after allegedly robbing a pro-lifer and attacking a police officer to avoid arrest at a demonstration put on by the pro-life organization, Created Equal, at the University of Florida’s campus in Gainesville on March 10.
On March 10, volunteers from Created Equal, a national pro-life organization that attempts to educate people on the reality of abortion through outreach, were present at the University of Florida campus from 10a.m. until 1p.m. to peacefully demonstrate with their signs. They had permission from the university administrators to be there.
On their social media, Created Equal shared a video of the incident, which was filmed by the pro-life volunteers.
The video appears to show Dinkla, who has been identified as a UF student, approaching a female pro-lifer and snatching her sign. He then proceeds to his car, where he loads the sign in despite UF security telling him to stop. The video then shows Dinkla, with what looks like a knife, screaming at security to back off while getting into his car and driving away.
Footage from later in the day shows Dinkla return to the scene and join with other pro-abortion protestors who are blocking pro-life signs.
Dinkla is approached by a plainclothes detective who identifies himself as “Detective Tarafa with the University of Florida Police Department.”
In the footage, Dinkla can be seen attempting to physically stop the arrest from taking place.
At that moment, the video shows Taylor, a graduate assistant at the school who was also present, attacking the detective and shouting expletives. Both the video and police records indicate that she “struck Det. Tarafa in the back of his head with a bullhorn. Det. Tarafa then attempted to detain the Defendant [Taylor] and was punched in the face with a closed fist.”
“Are you [expletive] insane?” she screams. “You’re defending people who come here and harass people?”
Meanwhile, Dinkla was also screaming for the crowd to get involved, shouting “You fools, you get involved! Bystander effect!”
According to the UF’s student newspaper, The Florida Alligator, Created Equal’s demonstration coincided with a UF rally for “Bodily Autonomy” organized by the UF’s Young Democratic Socialists chapter. According to the paper, approximately 20 students were in attendance.
Dinkla is now facing two felony charges, one for robbery, with police records indicating that the sign he stole was worth $120, and the other for resisting an officer with violence.
Taylor is also facing two felony charges, for aggravated battery and violent resistance of an officer. She is also facing a misdemeanor charge for attempting to stop a legal arrest.
Despite their alleged actions being caught on video, UF Graduate Assistants United, a labor union for the university’s graduate employees of which Taylor serves as co-president, tweeted in support of Taylor and Dinkla, asking for donations to pay their bail.
‼️NEED SOLIDARITY AND HELP‼️2 friends, GAs were arrested today while protesting in Turlington Plaza for women’s rights. Court support needed, Bail Money needed (venmo: FreeFloridaF12). Please share, show up, and help in any way. We will not be intimidated✊ pic.twitter.com/gyyj4xqOfk
— UF Graduate Assistants United (@uf_gau) March 10, 2023
While the union is calling for their release, the university itself has condemned Dinkla’s and Taylor’s actions in a statement put out by their interim vice president for strategic communications and marketing, Steve Orlando.
“Everyone — regardless of their views — can exercise their First Amendment rights on this campus, and nobody has a right to violence,” Orlando said. “Violent behavior and resisting arrest are unacceptable.”
Created Equal also put out a statement on their social media on March 11, saying that if a person can be violent towards the most vulnerable in society, certainly nothing will stop them from perpetrating violence against those of opposing viewpoints.
“It is no surprise that those who advocate for the killing of preborn humans resort to violence towards those with whom they disagree,” said Mark Harrington, president and founder of Created Equal. “Created Equal condemns abortion-related violence and will continue to promote equality for all humans – both born and preborn.”
“We are grateful no staff members were injured in this incident. We also appreciate the efforts of the university and its law enforcement officers to protect the peaceful exercise of our First Amendment rights.”
Violence against pro-lifers seems to be a growing trend in America, particular since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court last July.
For months, pro-abortion groups such as Jane’s Revenge have been instilling terror among defenders of life by vandalizing and even firebombing crisis pregnancy centers across the U.S. in support of the “right” to kill unborn children.
The FBI has also seemed to ramp up its targeting of pro-lifers as well, carrying out armed raids against two pro-life activist fathers: Mark Houck in Pennsylvania and Paul Vaughn in Tennessee, who were both charged with FACE Act violations.
Vaughn’s charge stems from accusations he blocked the entrance to an abortion clinic, and Houck’s charge came after he shoved a man who Houck said was harassing his son, getting in his “personal space” with “disgusting” remarks.
While Houck was ultimately acquitted, U.S. President Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, when grilled by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, evaded responsibility for the raid by stressing that such decisions are “made at the level of the FBI agents on scene.”