| Drowning out the sound of hate. | This photo as we have learned is from 2011. | View the story below: |
Bikers show up to protect mourners from Westboro Baptist protest
Bikers seem to have thwarted attempts by the Westboro Baptist Church to protest the funeral of Newtown, Conn., shooting victim Principal Dawn Hochsprung.
The vocal right-wing Christian group, whose website is godhatesfags.com, produced a video called "God Sent the Shooter," and has blamed the massacre on gay marriage. It put Hochsprung's funeral on its online "picket schedule."
But there was no sign of the church group, as local newspaper the Newtown Patch live-blogged throughout the day with updates, and reported that people had arrived from as far away as Massachusetts to protect the mourners -- just in case.
Bikers from New York formed a formidable-looking wall of motorcyles.
Late in the day the Patch wrote: "Applause erupted in the crowd ... as it was announced that members of the Westboro Baptist Church were not coming to protest at the wake."
As of Wednesday afternoon, nearly a quarter million people had signed a WhiteHouse.gov petition -- created Dec. 14, the day of the Sandy Hook shooting -- to "legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group."
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| Mourners wait in a line to enter a viewing honoring school principal Dawn Hochsprung, a victim in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in Woodbury, Connecticut, December 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson |
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