Who is Berlinda Nibo? Black woman says Donald Trump supporters nearly beat her to death: 'Clawed me in the face'
A Black woman in Los Angeles who was beaten and pepper-sprayed this week by Trump supporters, while her arms were held down said she is lucky to be alive. The angry MAGA fans attacked her, ripped off her wig, and called her the N-word during a 'Stop the Steal' rally in Los Angeles.
25-year-old Berlinda Nibo said she was walking past a 'Stop the Steal' protest outside Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday, November 6, during the attempted coup in Washington, DC, when a group of President Donald Trump's supporters started asking who she voted for, saying "white lives matter," and called her the n-word. Nibo said she then flipped them off and told them to leave her alone and that they should be wearing masks.
Soon after, Nibo realized a crowd of round 30 people are following her and she hurried her pace, but the Trumpers blocked her path and swarmed her. A man she recorded on her phone falsely accused her of beating someone else and scratched her eyes and took her phone. The video footage captured by Nibo of the man shows him accusing her of "assaulting that guy" and seizing her phone. Other people then started beating Nibo, pulled off her wig, and pepper-sprayed her.
"A bunch of women and men started yelling, 'take off your mask, don't wear a mask,'" she said, telling NBC News that she asked one man in the group to leave her alone. "And that's when the guy went and took his hand, clawed me in the face. And then just smacked my phone in my face."
The entire horrific attack was captured by 29-year-old photographer Raquel Natalicchio. She told NBC News in an interview on Thursday that she saw Nibo, while she was walking by herself and heard the protesters bothering her and asking if she voted for Trump. It is unclear whether all those shown in Natalicchio’s photos were involved in the alleged assault. "Berlinda told them "no" and flipped them off and kept walking," Natalicchio said. "They kept kind of heckling her for that, and then she told them to put on a mask," Natalicchio said, noting that many people who attended the rally did not have a face mask on. "As soon as she told them to put a mask on, they swarmed her and circled her and started pushing her around amongst them, and trying to intimidate her."
One man came forward to help Nibo, he was captured in an image grabbing Berlinda from behind to pull her to safety. "That guy, I call him my hero," Berlinda told NBC Los Angeles. "That guy picked me up, was whispering in my ear, telling me, 'Keep going. You're OK. I got you, I have your phone. You're OK, I'm going to get you out of here. These people are trying to kill you.'"