Nibo told The Root that when a white woman yelled at her to take off her mask, she shouted back to put on a mask, and that's when the mob surrounded her.
"All of a sudden I'm just getting cornered by 30, 40 people," she recalled. "That's what started all of them to jump in and shoving me around. Then some lady comes out of nowhere and starts tugging on my hair, trying to pull my hair off of my head."
Nibo told KCAL that she was smacked in the face and that a man pepper-sprayed her in the eyes. Freelance photojournalist Raquel Natalicchio was covering the rally and witnessed the attack.
"I'm definitely shaken to see men beat a woman in that way, especially since there's no excuse for it," Natalicchio told The Root. "But also it was very disheartening to see so many people, like over 50 people watching this happen and nobody stepped in."
Nibo said that strangers eventually intervened to help her, including the burly, red-bearded man seen in some of Natalicchio's photos.
"He was whispering in my ear going 'You're OK, I got you, I've got you, don't do anything. These people are literally trying to kill you,'" Nibo told KCAL."If not for him stepping in at that moment, these people would have literally tried to kill me."
