Leaders try to halt S.F. right-wing rally
San Francisco’s top political leaders piled on Tuesday in opposition to a right-wing group’s planned rally next week at Crissy Field, with Mayor Ed Lee expressing outrage that the National Park Service granted a permit for the event and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi questioning whether it had been approved “under guidance from the White House.”
An organizer of the Aug. 26 rally rejected suggestions that it would be a gathering of white supremacists. And the local managers of the Presidio, a national park site, said the group’s politics made no difference because it had a constitutional right to a permit — as long as public safety isn’t endangered.
Pelosi, Lee and Sen. Dianne Feinstein said their fear is that law enforcement won’t be able to ensure public safety, especially in the aftermath of Saturday’s violence at a rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va. A woman was killed and 19 people were hurt when a car was driven into a crowd of counterprotesters, allegedly by a man who has espoused neo-Nazi views.
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area tentatively issued a permit to the group Patriot Prayer for the Crissy Field rally before last weekend’s violence. Patriot Prayer says on its website that it is “about fighting corruption and big government with the strength and power of love ... and extending free speech for all.”
The group was not connected to the Virginia rally of white nationalists. However, its recent events in Portland, Ore., and Seattle have served as magnets for right-wing
“The National Park Service’s decision to permit a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field raises grave and ongoing concerns about public safety.” Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader “I don’t think ... it makes sense to have any kind of potentially volatile group” in an area where families gather. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
extremists, who in turn have drawn left-wing counterprotesters. Clashes between the two sides marked the Portland event, while the Seattle rally Sunday was largely peaceful.
The group is ostensibly religious, but its purpose is really “an attempt to provoke blackclad ideologues on the left into acts of violence,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks alleged hate groups.
Pelosi said in a statement that San Francisco “takes great pride in being a city of peace which cherishes free speech and the right to dissent. However, the National Park Service’s decision to permit a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field raises grave and ongoing concerns about public safety.” She wants the agency to reconsider.
The San Francisco Democrat also asked at what level the rally had been given a permit. “At the National Park Service?” she said. “In the Department of the Interior? Or under guidance from the White House?”
Calls to the White House seeking comment brought no response.
Feinstein, D-Calif., said that Crissy Field is an inappropriate site for the rally and that she was reaching out to the GGNRA “to find out what is going on.”
“I don’t think ... it makes sense to have any kind of potentially volatile group” in an area where families gather, Feinstein said.
Lee said he was “outraged” that the GGNRA had approved the permit “without proper planning and resources, given the public safety concerns.” In a letter to agency Superintendent Cicely Muldoon, Lee said there wasn’t time to pull together “the multiagency response that will be required.”
The GGNRA did not respond to requests for comment on the fusillade of objections. But earlier, officials told us they couldn’t take the organizers’ political views into consideration in granting a permit.
“When it involves First Amendment rights ... we don’t regulate the opinions of the people seeking the permits,” said GGNRA spokeswoman Sonja Hanson. “It’s based on the Constitution.”
That said, Hanson said park police were working closely with the San Francisco Police and Fire departments to ensure the rally doesn’t turn ugly if counterprotesters show up.
“It will only be held under peaceful and safe circumstances,” Hanson said — and if it can’t be, officials could still call off the gathering.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said Tuesday that his department would work to ensure everyone’s right to free speech and that “we will not tolerate violence in any form.”
A posting on the Patriot Prayer Facebook page describes what it calls “Liberty Weekend in the Bay Area” — kicking off with the Aug. 26 gathering hosted by group organizer Joey Gibson, followed by a rally the next day at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley, hosted by “Transsexual Patriot” Amber Gwen Cummings.
Cummings is advertising the “No Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley on her Facebook page. However, Matthai Chakko, a spokesman for the city, said, “We have had no one seek a permit for that date for any event in the park, and that is what somebody would do if they wanted to have a safe and successful event.”
Gibson describes the Crissy Field event as a “day of freedom, spirituality, unity, peace and patriotism.” Scheduled speakers include Gibson, Cummings and Harim Uziel of the group Los Angeles for Trump.
On a video posted Tuesday on his Facebook page, Gibson took aim at San Francisco’s political establishment.
“For those of you who believe we are seriously going to throw a white nationalist supremacist rally in San Francisco, it’s time for logic,” Gibson said. “We have a black speaker, two Hispanic speakers, we’ve got an Asian, a brown speaker right here (referring to himself ) — we got a transsexual and we aren’t talking about race.”
Gibson added: “We are talking about America, and freedom and love and God, and that is why people in San Francisco are so afraid of our message. I dare the politicians in San Francisco and Berkeley to talk about how we are white supremacists, because all you are going to do is lose your credibility.”
Political leaders aren’t buying it. At a City Hall news conference, Board of Supervisors President London Breed said, “We will do everything we can to stop this from happening in San Francisco.”