A crowd of protesters gathered on Friday to support a man accused of assault after dressing as Spider-Man to protest a far-right rally in downtown Minneapolis last month.
Nicholas William Love II, 33, of Inver Grove Heights, was charged with misdemeanor fifth-degree assault he allegedly committed against pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang and his associates while he was wearing the Spider-Man costume during a rally on Aug. 22.
Love arrived at the courthouse on Friday wearing the same Spider-Man costume, and was met by a crowd of supporters protesting against the assault charges, with many of them also in costume as they called authorities to drop the charges.
During the brief court hearing, Love pleaded not guilty to assault, intending to argue that his actions were in self-defense as there was a threat posed to counter-protesters as the two trucks operated by Lang’s group unexpectedly rolled onto a sidewalk…