Fearing violence, organizers cancel two rallies in Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — A right-wing group on Friday canceled a “freedom rally” it had planned for Saturday near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, removing one major source of feared violence for city leaders, though others remained.
The group, known as Patriot Prayer, instead planned a news conference at a park in the city on Saturday to explain what its leader Joey Gibson called the failure of police and elected officials to keep the group safe.
Almost immediately after that announcement, a second right-wing rally planned for the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area was canceled.
Organizer Andrea Cummings released a statement Friday afternoon urging people not to come to her “No to Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley on Sunday. She said she is concerned for the safety of the people who might come to the event.
As for Saturday’s event, Gibson said the rhetoric of Mayor Ed Lee and other San Francisco leaders prompted the decision to replace the rally at Crissy Field with the news conference at Alamo Park.
Gibson has said the group disavows racism and hatred.
The civic leaders are on edge following the Aug. 12 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that turned deadly.
Deirdre Hussey, spokeswoman for Lee, had no comment.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people rallied raucously and danced against hate at City Hall. They held signs that read “Unite Against Hate” and cheered religious and elected officials who took the microphone to speak of love and champion diversity in a city that famously prides itself as a sanctuary for gays, minorities and people who are in the country illegally.
Hip-hop artist MC Hammer, who grew up in Oakland, railed against the hate that killed leaders in the 1960s, including President John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X.
“Hate is dangerous and we can’t sit back and say, well, let them demonstrate it’ll go away,” he told the cheering crowd. “That’s not the way hate operates so we have to stay on top of it and let it know it can’t be comfortable here in our home.”
Also Friday, a judge ordered the jailing of a conservative organizer who has been scheduled to speak at the Patriot Prayer rally. Kyle Chapman, of nearby Daly City, was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon after authorities said he was seen on video hitting a counterprotester over the head with a billy club during a chaotic March 4 demonstration in Berkeley.