Protests against President-elect Donald Trump got heated at the Texas State Capitol on Thursday night, with police arresting a number of people last night and using pepper spray to help disperse the crowd.
On the other side of the aisle, Trump supporters are making allegations of the protests being somehow staged on social media. The initial tweet claiming the people protesting the election results was posted by @erictucker the evening of Nov. 9, and has been retweeted more than 16,000 times as of Friday afternoon.
Anti-Trump protestors in Austin today are not as organic as they seem. Here are the busses they came in. #fakeprotests #trump2016 #austin pic.twitter.com/VxhP7t6OUI
— erictucker (@erictucker) November 10, 2016
The tweet says, “Anti-Trump protestors in Austin today are not as organic as they seem. Here are the busses they came in. #fakeprotests #trump2016 #austin" The pictures show a line of charter buses and suggests the protesters were bused in on them to take to the streets.
Even Trump got in on the accusations, tweeting, “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016
KVUE found the buses near 5th and Waller in Downtown Austin on Friday, but no protesters. One of the drivers said there was an electronic convention going on, which was found to be Tableau Conference 2016.
"I can confirm that those were in fact our buses. They were transporting conference attendees to our 'Data Night Out' party,” said Tableau Spokesperson Keyana Corliss.
Corliss added Friday is the last day of the convention, and their buses will only be out there until Friday evening.
Trump also sent out another tweet Friday morning, changing his tone on the subject saying, "Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!"
Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016
The blogger, who originally sent out the tweet about Tableau's chartered buses explained his confusion and mistake over the buses on his blog Friday afternoon. GO HERE to read his blog post.