A Republican Party office in North Carolina was firebombed and vandalized on Saturday, and police are investigating who is responsible.
The incident was condemned across the political aisle, from presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to local officials — and a group of academics.
Zeynep Tufekci of the University of North Carolina's School of Information Science first tweeted about Democrats helping the GOP office, and David Weinberger of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Technology later launched a campaign on GoFundMe.
"Zeynep's idea of having Democrats contribute to reopening a Republican
office that was a victim of political terrorism — no matter who was responsible — struck a chord with me, and apparently with lots of other people," Weinberger told BuzzFeed News.
Within 40 minutes, the online campaign had passed its $10,000 goal, and it was later closed out with a total of $13,117.
The campaign recorded 552 donations before it closed, many between $5 and $25.
"The funding campaign was a way of saying out loud that we are all in this democracy together, and that we stand together against those who would destroy it through violence and intimidation," Weinberger said.
GOAL MET! It took less than 40 non-partisan mins to raise $10,000 to re-open firebombed Repub office. A thirst for civility & democracy!
On Twitter, people said they were donating to support democracy and stand against voter intimidation.
Donate. Even if we don't agree on politics everyone has the right to support their candidate without fear of violen… https://t.co/K2NOOCbkvm
I'm voting for @HillaryClinton and still donating to help rebuild this. It was a disgusting and violent act. https://t.co/xvhYTJ4ndC
Let's show the @NCGOP we stand with them. Donate any amount you can: 'Dems help reopen a NC Repub office' https://t.co/hU4ncWxjR2
Proud to be a Democrat @NCDemParty Let's all get together and donate for the @NCGOP to get their offices re-opened!… https://t.co/a7MDdeeTmR
Others on the left said this wasn't the time to put down their political differences.
And they’ve already met the $10K goal. Cool, a new place for the GOP to hand out leaflets saying transgenders should be jailed
I'll donate to @NCGOP if they promise my donation won't be used to keep trans people out of bathrooms and black people out of voting booths.
Everyone can do what they think is right. I know the violence the local GOP has inflicted on black people like mine.