The Orlando Police department confirmed it is actively investigating an assault that occurred Saturday outside the former gay nightclub Pulse. Locals have for weeks gathered outside Pulse, the site of a 2016 mass shooting, to protest the state’s decision last month to paint over a rainbow-colored crosswalk that was installed to memorialize the shooting victims.
At least four people have been arrested for using chalk to color back in the rainbow colors of the crosswalk — on charges of interference with a traffic control device — but video posted to social media Saturday appears to depict the first act of violence since the crosswalk controversy took hold. Video footage posted to Facebook and Instagram shows a man appearing to kick a protester at the site of the crosswalk. The protester, later identified as Zane Aparicio (who goes by the name Cait), told WFTV the confrontation came after verbal threats from the perpetrator, who fled after the assault and has not been identified publicly.
Cait reportedly told Orlando police that a man and female passenger drove up to the crosswalk site just south of downtown Orlando in a Tesla, which in video footage appears to be a dark gray color. The man exited the vehicle and allegedly began messing with LGBTQ+ flags that protesters had posted around the crosswalk and nightclub site just off Orange Avenue, witnesses said…