Earlier this week there was quite a dustup online between the alt-right and the left regarding whether or not white supremacist/separatist Nathan Damigo was justified in assaulting a 95-pound woman during the street brawling that occurred following a rally and counter-protest last Saturday in Berkeley. Many pointed to a Reuters photo, taken by Stephen Lam that appeared to show the woman, 20-year-old Louise Rosealma of Ventura County, holding a glass bottle as a weapon, apparently taken moments before Damigo was seen punching her on the now infamous video. As often happens with Reddit and elsewhere on the internet, that bottle became, for some, an improvised incendiary device, with people claiming that Rosealma had filled the bottle with explosives, and Damigo was a hero for stopping her from launching the bottle into the crowd nearby. As best and objectively as they can, Snopes has now taken on the photo and video evidence, analyzed both, and concluded that yes, probably the photo is not doctored and Rosealma likely was wielding a glass bottle, however that bottle was empty and does not appear to have been an IED.

Also, they explain, that you can partly see Rosealma as she was hit a first time by Damigo, just off camera — which is the moment that seems to have been captured in Lam's photo. In that photo, she is still wearing a mask that partially covers her face, as well as a black hat, which has been knocked off by the time we see Damigo hitting her a second time. If you take it frame by frame, you can also see the green glass bottle in Rosealma's hand before she is hit the first time.

Rosealma has continued to deny that she was ever armed, or holding a bottle at any point, and activists on the left have tried to suggest that the photo was doctored to add in the bottle. Says Snopes, "Although Reuters has taken criticism for doctoring photos in the past, it is highly unlikely that the photograph of Rosealma was manipulated."

Also, Snopes confirms that the second "sucker punch" does indeed appear unprovoked, as Rosealma clearly has nothing in her hands as she's punched in the video.

They also found a video, which you can see below, in which someone who appears to be Rosealma is interviewed starting at the 3:30 mark, and this appears to have happened shortly before the scuffle took place with Damigo. She is still wearing the red and black mask. The interview asks whether she condones the use of explosives, and she says, "The revolution isn’t f***in’ easy," she says. "I mean I got kneed in the face, pepper-sprayed in the eye, and some guy tried hitting my head against a rock and he was wearing a f***ing Make America Great Again hat."

In conclusion: She was probably holding a bottle, but did not get to use it as a weapon, and it was not an IED, and people need to stop having asinine rumbles in the street to express their political beliefs because that is not activism.

Previously: Woman Punched By White Supremacist In Berkeley Speaks Out