http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_253478.html

Tampa Town Hall On Health Care Reform Disrupted By Violence

Police officers were called to calm down an unruly crowd outside a health
care reform town hall meeting in downtown Tampa, Florida on Thursday
evening, according to local news reports.

Angry protesters screamed, yelled and banged on windows as officers hurried
to guard the entrances to the facility, where U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor was
trying to discuss the various health care reform proposals being debated in
Congress. One photojournalist said that a fistfight broke out inside the
building, reports WTSP.

Many of the hundreds of protesters said that they had been inspired by a
conservative activist group promoted by Fox News host Glenn Beck and some
received emails from the county Republican party, according to the St.
Petersburg Times:

"Instead, hundreds of vocal critics turned out, many of them saying they had
been spurred on through the Tampa 912 activist group promoted by
conservative radio and television personality Glenn Beck. Others had
received e-mails from the Hillsborough Republican party that urged people to
speak out against the plan and offered talking points to challenge
supporters."

The Times added:

"The spectacle at the Children's Board in Ybor City sounded more like a
wrestling cage match than a panel discussion on national policy, and it was
just the latest example of a health care meeting disrupted by livid
protesters."

The Tampa Tribune reports that some protesters carried racist caricatures of
President Obama and added details of more fights and scuffles:

"Several of the protesters' signs bore an image of Obama with his face
painted as the Joker, an image that drew protests of racism locally when it
appeared on a Web site thought to be associated with the Pinellas Republican
party.

There were at least two scuffles between protesters trying to enter and
organizers manning the doors.
One of those involved in a scuffle, Randy Arthur, of Oldsmar said he was
injured by those manning the doors and said he would file a police report...
Randy Arthur, who owns an air conditioning service company, later talked to
police officers, his knit shirt ripped and a few scratches visible on his
chest. "They slammed him into the wall,'' Kathy Arthur said."