Haunting Protest Photo Goes Viral

There’s a photo being widely shared this week that shows protestors pressed up against windows at the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. Photographer Joshua Bickel took the photo for the Columbus Dispatch. It’s a moment in time that some people say will haunt them.

The photo depicts a couple of people in Trump hats and one in a Guy Fawkes mask (which is also depicted in the video above from the NBC affiliate in Columbus). Protesters, such as these, have shown up several days over the last week demanding the Ohio governor put an end to the stay-at-home order. And while they protest, it’s clear most don’t practice social distancing or wear recommended facial coverings.

In the Columbia Dispatch today, Bickel described the scene as he took this picture:

“About 100-150 protesters had gathered outside the Statehouse before the briefing started… At some point, they moved around to the south side of the atrium where we were sitting, came up to the windows and started chanting.”

“After about an hour or so, reporters started asking questions and the crowd outside started chanting again, and at some point started banging on some windows briefly. At that point I got up and decided to walk by the windows just to see what was going on. I remember walking by the door and seeing people up at the door chanting. I thought the framing of the door and windows was interesting so I stood there for a brief second kind of composing the picture in my head. I made 7 frames of the scene in about 10 seconds, and then left…”

“Watching this image circulate over the last 48 hours is surreal, but going viral wasn’t something I set out to do.”