Western, central and northern Minnesota under windy, dry weather conditions 

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Organizers of what was being called a "freedom rally" Saturday in San Francisco had hoped to draw an audience for their conservative causes.


Instead, they say rhetoric from politicians and groups on the left compromised their safety by attracting extremists. On Facebook Friday afternoon, one of the organizers, Joey Gibson, 

announced that the event at San Francisco's Crissy Field was canceled

 and would now be a news conference at Alamo Square Park.


Just two weeks after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., left one woman dead and ignited a national debate about racism, symbols of white supremacy and free speech, several alt-right groups planned to rally this weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, unnerving residents, police and politicians.

"Charlottesville has raised the stakes," said Jesse Arreguin, mayor of Berkeley, Calif. "So we are very concerned about any violence that could happen in our city."


A far-right rally in Berkeley reportedly is also up in the air. The 

 that an organizer of that event said in an email that she would attend but was urging other people not to show up.


It's no coincidence far-right groups are targeting liberal cities long known for their embrace of leftist politics, free speech and diversity. Many on the alt-right see the West Coast's urban areas as centers of effete, out-of-touch, intolerant elitist "snowflakes."


"Talk about kicking the hornet's nest! This is sure to be a barnburner," 

" and the "Alt-Knight," wrote on Facebook, urging supporters to head to the Bay this weekend, 

. Chapman, who is popular among alt-right groups, fought protesters in Berkeley on March 4 and was

 charged with felony possession of a weapon

 he was "to have no weapons of any kind — sticks, knives, pepper spray."
"I've repeatedly put my life and freedom on the line," Chapman wrote, adding the hashtags 

. "It's time to return the favor. I need all warriors to suit up and boot up this weekend."
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee expressed disappointment with the National Park Service, which 

 for Saturday's now canceled "Patriot Prayer" rally on the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Crissy Field.


, continues to prepare for Sunday even though a permit application was denied for what has been dubbed an "anti-Marxist" rally. "They will be moving forward with an unsanctioned event," Arreguin says, adding, "We will not tolerate any violence committed by anyone. If things get violent we will make arrests."
This will be the fourth major street protest in Berkeley in just over a year. 

 masked protesters smashed windows, lit fires, shot fireworks and tossed metal barricades during a planned speech at the University of California, Berkeley by far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was canceled.
And in 

 broke out in downtown Berkeley between pro- and anti-Trump groups.


But the recent death of a young woman in Virginia during a Unite the Right rally has exacerbated concerns.

"We take our historic role and responsibility to protect freedom of speech very seriously," Arreguin told NPR. But addressing extremists on both sides, the mayor said violence is not free speech. "When you come to an event dressed as a soldier for battle you're not interested in free speech, you're interested in a brawl."

Area police have canceled all vacation and time-off requests. Berkeley has asked for mutual aid police assistance from neighboring communities.


In San Francisco, police and the Park Service had

banned people from carrying a long list of items to the event, including helmets, tiki torches, selfie sticks, drones, bicycles and any weapons or firearms including by those people with concealed-carry permits.
"

insisted his event is searching for common ground and not open to the far-right.


"No extremists will be allowed in," his group posted on Facebook. "No Nazis, Communist, KKK, Antifa, white supremacist, I.E., or white nationalists."



The pro-Trump supporter has denounced the violence in Charlottesville. And Gibson insisted to 

 in Portland, Ore., he isn't a racist and doesn't want racists at his rallies.


"I'm brown so I'm definitely not a white supremacist, definitely not a white nationalist, definitely not a Nazi because I want limited government," he said. "Hitler was all about big government."


But Gibson's rallies have featured white nationalist speakers, and his group's events often attract a wide range of racist white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and anti-government extremists and militia types, says Brian Levin, director of the 

Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism

"The anti-fascist movement does think [Gibson] is an extremist and an antagonist and wants to, quote, 'shut them down.' So that's why this stuff can go south pretty quick."

"[Gibson] either has people that he invites or tolerates people who are dyed-in-the-wool extremists," Levin added. "There is a diversity of people who show up. But whether or not you put the fly in the soup or just allow flies to go into your soup, you still don't want to drink the soup."

Members of the anti-fascist or antifa groups in the Bay Area, some of whom embrace violent tactics, have vowed to disrupt both alt-right rallies.


Members of the anti-government militia groups called 

 say they're sending supporters to the Bay Area.


 says the organizers of both rallies this weekend appear to be what it is calling the "

" variety: far-right supporters who reject overt displays of white supremacy but who often embrace xenophobic, misogynist, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration and anti-Semitic ideas.


But the ADL's Joanna Mendelson notes that both movements' hateful ideologies are changeable.

"The fluidity to these groups is in the fact that some adherents can't be neatly and squarely characterized in one category over another. Both groups echo xenophobic and often misogynistic tropes, but the line in the sand, in where they stand, is defined by their views on white supremacy and anti-Semitism," she says.

"These rallies always have the potential of attracting dyed-in-the-wool white supremacists who seek to insert their racist agenda into possible firestorm events," Mendelson adds.


California has seen more than two dozen political street brawls in the past two years, including a bloody neo-Nazi rally 

, during which at least seven people were stabbed. And a 

 last year also turned violent.
Levin at Cal State 

 14 percent in California's largest cities in 2016 and have risen as well in major "blue state" cities.
"

Meantime, San Francisco Mayor Lee is urging residents not to show up but instead attend one of the many planned peaceful counterprotests, many of which are in keeping with San Francisco's free spirit culture.

" event on Ocean Beach as well as a mobile dance party called 

. "The goal was to respond with a better alternative — one that's bigger, brighter, and more inclusive," Daveed Walzer Panadero 

. "And hopefully draws more people who might not normally come to a political protest or march."
And the group 

 says its members will use wit and absurdity to "mercilessly ridicule any Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, or alt right trolls who dare show their face in San Francisco."
Musician Michael Franti & Spearhead and other Bay Area artists and comedians are among those scheduled to perform Saturday at a concert dubbed 

San Francisco Peacefully Unites Against White Nationalists

 downtown at the city's Civic Center.
"Let us show this nation that San Francisco is a city of peace and unity," Lee says.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Crime, Law and Justice

Social Issues

Eric Westervelt

Author

Police are preparing for far-right rallies this weekend in San Francisco and Berkeley, what one supporter calls "kicking the hornets' nest." Scores of counter-protests are planned.

Bay Area braces for protests: 'Charlottesville has raised the stakes'

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox