Kate Burns Breast Cancer patient punched by Shiva Bagheri anti masker during West Hollywood protests against LA County mask mandate.
Civil liberties vs the greater public good….including those most vulnerable.
Disconcert came to the fore after breast cancer patient and a woman protesting mask mandates were captured on video scuffled outside a Los Angeles clinic on Thursday.
‘Just another day in the bad place,’ wrote the patient, Kate Burns, who posted video of the confrontation on Twitter, which led to her being assaulted.
Footage captured Burns bumping into a woman, since identified as Shiva Bagheri, a strident anti masker as protesters had gathered outside Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services in West Hollywood. Bagheri in turns responded by punching Burns below her left breast, then ripping off her mask amid tensions at the scene.
The women were quickly separated by other people in the crowd.
Just another day in the bad place pic.twitter.com/s3IUQcXWX9
— Kate Burns (@Katerqburns) July 23, 2021
‘I get treated here, get the f**k away,’
Demonstrators had gathered outside the clinic to protest against the clinic’s mask mandate – which follows LA County’s recently reintroduced rule that both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents must wear face coverings indoors amid the surging Delta variant.
The fight on the video began shortly after Burns approaching protesters and telling them to leave in video posted on Twitter by a local videographer and advocacy journalist Vishal P. Singh.
‘Masks don’t work,’ a protester is heard saying as Burns is enveloped by jeering protesters.
At some point one of protesters holding a megaphone has the loudspeaker knocked out of her hand. The woman attempts to attack the man, only for Burns to be caught in the middle.
‘I get treated here, get the f**k away,’ Burns told the protesters. Then one of them, who was also capturing the protest on his phone, asked her the reason behind her anger.
‘Because I’ve just gone through f**king breast cancer. And you motherf**kers are here,’ Burns replied.
A man then said, ‘That has nothing to do with you. We’re trying to help.’
‘F**k your civil rights,’
To which Burns responded: ‘You are protesting a breast cancer fucking center. It has everything to do with me and my community. Do you know anything about chemotherapy? Do you know what happens to the immune system?’
Another man then asked her if she knew about the Civil Rights Act. ‘F**k your civil rights,’ Burns said. Another man added: ‘Get on the right side of history. You’ve got a lot of anger you need to release. It’s a very dangerous emotion.’
At some point, a woman carrying a megaphone is filmed thrusting into Burns. Video captures the woman, identified as Shiva Bagheri punching Burns a number of times.
Kate Burns would later allege on social media that she was punched in the chest by the un-identified woman in her scar area.
Tweeted Burns, ‘Just another day in the bad place.’
Burns would also claim being sprayed in the face with bear mace during the encounter.
Freedom lover
Of note, a 2018 report called Burns a ‘breast cancer warrior’ for her efforts to raise money for a friend with the affliction, before learning that she, too, had breast cancer.
A previous January 2021 CNN Inside report also spoke with Shiva Bagheri a self described ‘freedom lover,’ who adamantly opposed to the wearing of masks amid the ongoing pandemic.
‘A mask does not protect you from a deadly virus,’ Bagheri insists in the video, while also claiming that infected individuals couldn’t spread the virus if they’re asymptomatic – contentions which have been proven wrong.
Thursday’s clash comes just days after LA County mandating the wearing of masks indoors by all residents, vaccinated and unvaccinated, last Saturday. The resolve comes amid rising COVID-19 cases with the rising spread of the Delta variant following California State reopening on June 15.