Anti-Black Lives Matter crowdfunding page banned ‘for not promoting harmony’

A crowdfunding page raising money for lawsuits filed on behalf of Louisiana police against the Black Lives Matter group has been removed because it does ‘not promote harmony.’

The page was set up by a personal injury lawyer, Donna Grodner, who wanted to raise $20,000 in funds for suits she has filed against the activist movement on behalf of Baton Rouge police officers.

The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2012 in response to teenager Trayvon Martin’s killing by George Zimmerman. It calls for an end to racism and the killing of black people by police.

Grodner has filed two suits against the leaders of the group, including Deray Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie on behalf of Louisiana police. Crowdfunding site, YouCaring, removed the campaign from its site on Sunday, saying it’s not the right platform for such a cause.

“In alignment with our mission, we removed this fundraiser because it was not within our community guidelines around promoting harmony,” Marketing Officer Maly Ly told NewsHour Weekend, as cited by Yahoo.

“We are not the right platform to air grievances, or engage in contentious disputes or controversial public opinion.”

Grodner created a page on another crowdfunding site, GoFundMe, after being removed from YouCaring.

First lawsuit – debris injury

One of the suits filed by Grodner accuses BLM of being responsible for an unnamed officer reportedly getting hit by debris at a July 9 protest, which took place after the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and motorist Philando Castile a day later in Minnesota.  

A “rock-like substance” hit the officer in the face, causing him to lose his teeth, the Seattle Times reports. The suit doesn’t accuse Mckesson of throwing anything, but of having “incited violence” on behalf of BLM.

The suit was filed in November and in March, a judge said the question was “whether under Louisiana law, Black Lives Matter is capable of suing and being sued,” and is yet to make that decision.

A lawsuit was filed on Sunday against Baton Rouge and Louisiana police by 13 protesters and two journalists arrested during the same Baton Rouge protests. 

Second suit – Gavin Long shooting

The second suit, filed Friday in Baton Rouge, accuses the movement of being responsible for an attack on police by gunman Gavin Long on July 17, 2016. Two police officers and a sheriff died, and two deputies and an officer were injured in the attack.

BLM members Mckesson, Elzie, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi are named in the suit, which alleges the “violence was caused or contributed to by the leaders of and by “BLACK LIVES MATTER” a militant anti-police national organization.”

The suit, filed by one of the officers injured in the attack, seeks at least $75,000 in damages and claims BLM are to blame for the man’s injuries as it “incited violence against police,” and “did nothing to dissuade the ongoing violence and injury to police.”

The suit accuses the group of having “justified the violence as necessary to the movement and war.”

"By embracing and supporting violence in protest that could have been conducted peacefully, BLM declared a virtual war on police," it says.

Long, a recently discharged Marine, left a three-page note saying he wanted to target police officers because of the justice system’s failure to hold “bad” cops accountable for their actions, and to “create substantial change within America’s police force and judicial system.”

Long had not attended any BLM protests, an investigative report found, the Washington Post reports.