Plan for ‘alt-right’ rally opposed

Fearing violence, lawmakers urge feds to not allow event in San Francisco on Aug. 26.

SACRAMENTO — Citing concern over violent clashes at a Charlottesville rally of white nationalists last weekend, a group of California lawmakers called Tuesday for the National Park Service to rescind a permit issued for a proTrump rally scheduled for Aug. 26 in San Francisco.

The conservative Patriot Prayer rallies have been organized by blogger Joey Gibson. He says he condemns white supremacists, but members of the white nationalist movement have spoken at and attended the rallies.

The event is scheduled at Crissy Field, a park popular with families and tourists, wrote three San Francisco Democrats, state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymen Phil Ting and David Chiu in a letter to the park service.

“Allowing a likely violent rally of white supremacists so close to all of this is of deep concern to us,” the trio wrote. “While we believe in the right to free speech and free assembly, we believe the National Park Service does not have the capacity to safely control this situation and therefore should not be issuing a permit for this rally at Crissy Field.”

Three people died and 35 were injured in Virginia when a group of white nationalists clashed with dozens of counter-protesters.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco separately called Tuesday for the National Park Service to reconsider the permit for Crissy Field.

“San Francisco takes great pride in being a city of peace which cherishes free speech and the right to public dissent,” Pelosi said in a statement. “However, the National Park Service’s decision to permit a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field raises grave and ongoing concerns about public safety.”

Gibson railed against media outlets that referred to his rally as a racist gathering. Gibson is not white, and has pointed out the speakers include a black man and a transgender woman.

“The fact that she [Pelosi] is calling it a white supremacist rally, it’s extremely dangerous that she’s doing that,” he said. “She’s giving people license to use violence against me.”

Pelosi also questioned whether the park service can protect the public, and asked how the decision was made to permit the rally.

“We must wonder, where is the decision to permit a white supremacist rally in a national park being made?” she said. “At the National Park Service? In the Department of the Interior? Or under guidance from the White House?”

patrick.mcgreevy @latimes.com Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.