Right-wing rallies likely to face wave of resistance
When right-wing groups gather at San Francisco’s Crissy Field on Saturday, there will be no shortage of resistance — and little agreement on what the best response looks like.
Some opponents plan to stay away, joining up peacefully at City Hall or creating a human banner reading “STOP HATE” on Ocean Beach. Others will march to Crissy Field and confront the demonstrators, arguing that such events can’t be ignored.
The varying strategies took shape Wednesday as the National Park Service gave final approval to a fringe group called Patriot Prayer to hold a rally at 2 p.m. Saturday, despite concerns that it will draw counterprotesters and turn violent, similar to an Aug. 12 event in Charlottesville, Va., in which an antiracism activist was killed.
The Park Service, though, adopted a strict safety plan that will close businesses in the Presidio on Saturday. The Main Post will be closed to all visitors, while Crissy Field will be off-limits to
cars and bikes, and pedestrians will be able to enter only from the Marina District. They will be screened for banned items including weapons, helmets, pepper spray, non-service animals and any liquid except bottled water.
If authorities are coordinating their response, counterprotesters are moving in many directions.
The recent emboldening of far-right groups, who are also expected to converge on Berkeley’s Civic Center Park at 1 p.m. Sunday for a “No to Marxism” rally, has left Bay Area activists grappling with how to respond — whether to stay home, or try to seize the spotlight with peaceful gatherings, or confront their opponents head-on, even though their opponents’ goal is to provoke conflict.
“We don’t want to accommodate evil,” said Michael McBride, a pastor at Way Christian Center in Berkeley who is one of the organizers of Saturday’s “San Francisco Peacefully Unites Against White Nationalists” counter-rally at Civic Center Plaza.
He urged people to remain peaceful, but said, “You cannot ignore evil and hope it goes away. You have to resist evil as a public expression of love and solidarity. These rallies affirm who we are as a people, our values and our inclusiveness. We are projecting the kinds of communities we want.”
McBride said his event was inspired by a small German town that turned a neo-Nazi rally in 2014 into an anti-Nazi fundraiser. Organizers are encouraging participants to donate money to NoHateSF, which funnels the dollars into 15 different organizations.
Musician Michael Franti, who will perform at the gathering, said he hoped no one would let their “ego get (them) stuck in a confrontation that gets played on TV over and over again.”
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area permitted other events this weekend besides the Patriot Prayer rally, including a candlelight vigil and town hall at Crissy Field Friday and the human-banner effort at Ocean Beach.
Officials in Berkeley are also urging counterprotesters to keep their distance from the far-right rally. Mayor Jesse Arreguin asked residents to avoid Civic Center Park, the site of an event in March that turned violent, and not “dignify” their opponents.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee echoed the sentiment Wednesday, urging those opposed to the Patriot Prayer event not to go to Crissy Field.
“The shameful, anti-American trend of hate-filled extremist rallies will unfortunately be allowed to continue this weekend in our city,” Lee said in a statement following the Park Service’s decision.
But many are insisting that the right-wing groups coming to the Bay Area cannot be left alone, including Oakland resident Amrit Kohli, 43.
“They’re a scourge in this country, and they need to be removed,” said Kohli, who works as a musician and software engineer while organizing for the group Brown Lives Matter.
His group is among those planning a march on Crissy Field. Kohli said he doesn’t condone violence but that counterprotesters will stand their ground and defend themselves.
“I am personally not carrying a weapon, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell everybody else to do the thing I’m doing,” he said. “There is no negotiating with this group. They are terrorists. This is a dangerous situation.”
On the other side of the bay, Luma Nichol, 64, a San Francisco resident behind the group Communities Against Racism & Fascism, said she planned to confront demonstrators in Berkeley on Sunday.
“Basically, they’re bullies,” she said. “And ignoring bullies never works.”
“The intent is to show that we outnumber them,” she said, referring to tens of thousands of people who took to the streets of Boston last weekend, overshadowing a small “free speech” gathering. “That was quite a shot in the arm, and discouragement to these wouldbe fascists.”
A wild card in the rallies is whether masked counterprotesters, often referred to as antifa or antifascists, will attack the far-right demonstrators, as they have done in Berkeley in the past, seeking to punish and intimidate their opponents.
Others are taking a completely different approach. In Berkeley, several dozen protesters are buying Groucho Marx stick-on mustaches and plastic glasses for a “Yes to Marxism” gathering, a spoof on Sunday’s “No to Marxism” rally.
“We are countering their hate by showing up and having some fun and spreading laughter,” said organizer Isobel White. “We basically don’t want to rise to their hate bait.”