Rallies in Berkeley, S.F. are called off
Organizers step back for fear of violence
SAN FRANCISCO — Citing potential violence, organizers of right-wing rallies this weekend in San Francisco and Berkeley have canceled the events, but officials in both cities were still preparing for clashes between demonstrators and counterprotesters.
Joey Gibson, founder of the Patriot Prayer group, had planned to hold a “Freedom Rally” at Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco. He told The Times last week that his group was not “white supremacist” but that he feared extreme or racist figures might try to coopt his event, a concern shared by experts who track hate groups.
“You’ve got two different people in this world right now. You have people that are trying to change hearts and minds of people, and you have people who are trying to divide the country,”
Gibson said.
By Friday, he decided the rhetoric about his rally had grown too heated, and he had no way to control who showed up. He canceled the Saturday afternoon event and said he would hold a news conference in Alamo Square instead.
“We have a lot of respect for the citizens in San Francisco and at the end of the day, we want people to be safe,” he said. “In our opinion, it seems like it would have been a huge riot.”
The San Francisco Police Department had planned to have its entire roster on duty for the rally. Officials said they could not comment Friday on wether their plans changed in light of Gibson’s announcement. Some rightwing groups were still urging supporters to go to the field.
“We are monitoring ongoing developments related to the August 26 rally,” Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement, “and we are prepared for any contingencies and spontaneous events.”
Lee noted that the permit at Crissy Field Beach had not been withdrawn, nor had a permit been requested for Alamo Square.
“Our full contingent of public safety professionals is ready to protect our San Francisco neighborhoods,” he said.
After the cancellation of Saturday’s event, focus shifted to Sunday’s “No to Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley, which has been home to a number of political clashes this year.
Violent protests on the UC Berkeley campus shut down an appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos in February, and subsequent demonstrations in support of Trump collapsed into roving street fights.
As of Friday evening, the Facebook invitation to the Sunday event remained active, but sponsor Amber Cummings said in a lengthy email to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter that she was “asking that no one come to my event.”
Cummings cited “grave concerns for the safety of the people attending my event.”
Berkeley officials had expressly banned weapons, sticks, projectiles and even soda cans from gatherings of more than 100 people within the city limits.
Cummings sought a permit, but was denied. She said the city manager’s office told her Wednesday that the permit application failed to include plans for first aid and sanitary services, and that she had failed to provide sufficient identification. News that Saturday’s organizer had canceled was seen as a partial victory by counter-protesters.
“Wow, it sounds like we’re having success ahead of time," Shanta Driver, the Chicago-based counsel for By Any Means Necessary, said as she waited to board a plane to the Bay Area.
Driver said the cancellation showed “white nationalists know they are a tiny minority in America, and there was absolutely no way they could rally in the city of San Francisco.”
Not so, she said, for the city’s neighbor across the bay, with its recent history of showdowns between white nationalists and anti-fascists.
“I think the people who are coming to Berkeley, they come armed and ready, and they come to do physical harm,” Driver said.
Those opposed to the rallies, including Mayor Lee, have called on counter-demonstrators to stage their events several blocks from the proposed far-right events. Some activists have said they are hoping to avoid the violent exchanges that have marred Berkeley.
One woman affiliated with the leftist anarchist group Pastel Bloc in Berkeley, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, said she hopes the number of counter-protesters will swell because of the planned nonviolence.
“By not directly confronting the white supremacists, who have brought weapons and started fights before, maybe people who have been hesitant to come show solidarity will feel more empowered to do so,” she said, adding that Pastel Bloc itself would not take part in Sunday’s events.
The need for stronger crowd control became clear in the wake of the violent clashes this month between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va., where demonstrators on each side complained of lax law enforcement.
Anaheim police drew criticism last year after a violent Ku Klux Klan rally. Uniformed officers were nowhere to be found when Klansmen arrived in Pearson Park, and several people were stabbed during brawls between Klan members and anti-racist protesters.
Even with vows of nonviolence on both sides, law enforcement leaders said they are well aware that it would take only a few agitators to cause a fracas. The issue with policing protests, they say, is that it becomes hard to isolate violent individuals in crowds that often number in the thousands.
Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Bob Green, who has served as a commander at dozens of protest scenes during his 30-year career, said preparation is critical to minimizing violence at any large-scale demonstration, and praised the moves to ban weapons at the Bay Area rallies.
“One of the most difficult things we do in our profession is policing 1st Amendment activity,” he said.