Video from Dearborn, Michigan, shows Jan. 6 defendant Jake Lang surrounded by a crowd of Muslim men during one of several heated clashes across the city on Tuesday. The clip, filmed by YouTuber Nick Shirley, captures the moment tensions erupted outside City Hall. Shirley said he plans to release the full footage soon.
“I believe they are going to cancel the 6:30 City Hall meeting because everybody is chimping the fuck out,” Lang said as the crowd tightened around him. Dozens shouted “Allahu Akbar” while Lang tried to push through. “I don’t have bananas, chill out,” he snapped back.
“This is not America. This is an insurgency,” Lang shouted over the noise. “They are taking over our country. They want us all dead.” Shirley said people were pushing as they tried to escape the crowd.
“This is Dearborn, Michigan — any racist is not welcome. No racist here,” one protester yelled at the camera. “If you can’t be peaceful, but every race is welcome. Two, three, our president is a pedophile.” The scene only grew more chaotic as people shoved and argued.
Local Fox 2 Detroit reporting described the chaos as a clash between alt-right demonstrators condemning Islam and a large group of Muslim counter-protesters. Their cameras captured shouting matches breaking out across the city. Many of the confrontations quickly escalated into physical pushing.
“How are they coming to us and saying that we are all about division; we’re all about sharia law and everything?” one man told the outlet. “And every single corner you walk into, it’s a Christian block, a Christian mosque, or whatever it is,” he added, forgetting the word “church.”
The showdown was sparked by Republican Michigan gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson, who had claimed sharia law was being practiced in Dearborn. Hudson originally planned to expose what he found. But after meeting with Islamic leaders, he reversed course and tried to calm tensions instead.
“If we’re going to bring these people together, then we’re going to lead by example and come down here, put boots on the ground and walk with these people and show that we can come together,” Hudson said. His shift surprised many who expected a fiery confrontation.
CBS News Detroit reported that Lang taunted Muslim protesters with bacon and threatened to burn a Quran during the standoff. That only intensified the anger inside the crowd. Police maintained a heavy presence but struggled to keep groups separated.
Dearborn has long been a flashpoint between Muslim and non-Muslim residents. In September, the city’s Muslim mayor told a Christian activist, “you are not welcome,” after he objected to renaming an intersection for a journalist who praised terrorist groups. In November, activists accused national media of fueling bigotry after reporting on an FBI-foiled terror plot tied to a teen following a Dearborn-based Islamist teacher.