Last weekend multiple Antifa members were arrested in Portland, Oregon, as they showed up to protest a Patriot Prayer rally, which many expected to end up in a riot, but ended up only being declared a "civil disturbance" as the city took preemptive action to try to keep the two opposing factions apart.
On the same day in Berkeley, California, 20 Antifa members were arrested after throwing explosives at the police, as well as destroying property by smashing windows, and smashing 21 city vehicles, slashing City vehicle tires, and setting one City vehicle on fire, according to the Berkeley police report.
DC, AUGUST 12, UNITE THE RIGHT 2 RALLY SCHEDULED
Unite the Right, described by the establishment media as "white nationalists" obtained permits to hold a Unite The Right 2 rally in DC on August 12, 2018. The event is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. and continue until to 7:30 p.m., on Sunday at Lafayette Square, according to the event’s public web page.
Flashback: This event is scheduled to occur on the anniversary of the Charlottesville, VA, rally that resulted in the death of one person and dozens others being injured, after Antifa showed up to protest the original rally.
It is important to remember that the Unite The Right members from the August 2017 rally was not just organized by the Unite the Right group, but was attended by a variety of groups protesting the removal of confederate monuments. While white supremacists groups did attend, along with some of their abhorrent imagery and rhetoric, the event was a peaceful protest, until the Antifa counter-protesters arrived.
From an ANP article on August 13, 2017, we noted that the Mayor of Charlottesville, who had previously declared his city the "capital of the resistance," had also warned, prior to the rallies and Antifa counter protests, "In advance of [Saturday's] rally there have been communications from extremist groups, many of which are located outside of Virginia, who may seek to commit acts of violence against rally participants or law enforcement officials."
The groups he was warning his citizens about were a number of Antifa groups, who planned to attend with the sole intention of committing violence against the original protesters and the police.
The reason the flashback to Charlottesville is so important is because it doesn't matter whether white supremacists, white nationalists or simply Americans opposed to the removal of historical monuments, attended, because no matter the messages espoused during the rally, from any of the groups, the protest itself was legal, and part of our constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and the right to peaceably assemble.
Even speech that the majority of Americans would find offensive is protected by the First Amendment, as reaffirmed in the Supreme Court Matal v. Tam decision in 2017.
"Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express 'the thought that we hate,'" wrote Justice Alito.
Now, according to the instruction portion of the page on the website for the Unite the Right 2, those planning to attend are being advised to refrain from bringing certain items, listed below:
Do NOT bring these items
-Guns -Pepper spray, clubs, knives or other weapons -Shields -Non-approved flags
Item 10 under the instructions category warns "Do not react with anger to anyone. There will certainly be provocateurs trying to get a reaction out of you by trying to stick cameras in peoples’ faces, yelling, etc."
Item 11 states "Law enforcement has assured me that agitators will be kept apart at a safe distance. If this is not the case alert a team member IMMEDIATELY so that the situation can be rectified before it becomes a larger issue."
They also tell those planning to attend "Don’t react to Antifa or the media."
ALWAYS Be aware of your surroundings. Do not talk to the media. Do not engage in any fighting. ALWAYS be a good representative for our cause.
Whether the group is a white nationalist group as the establishment media claims, or not, is of no importance as they have obtained permits, they have the right to free speech and they are actively recommending to those planning to join them to not engage with counter protesters or the media and not to bring weapons.
ANTIFA GROUPS PLAN FOR MORE VIOLENCE AND ARRESTS
On the Antifa group shutitdowndc website, we see a number of statements which tells us they are not only planning more violence and/or vandalism, but are planning for members to be arrested. They list groups associated with counter-protesting the Unite the Right 2 rally in DC, which include Black Lives Matter, resistance groups, anarchists, socialists, feminists, and a number of groups with Antifa in their names.
Their counter protest is scheduled to start on August 10, ending August 12. They list broader goals for their protest, which includes honoring the woman who died in Charlottesville in 2017, abolishing ICE, open borders, dismantling the prison industrial complex, and ending the settler colonial system."
“Now the white supremacists want to come back,” a video on the website states. “On August 12, 2018, the Alt-Right will hold ‘Unite the Right 2’ in Washington, DC, in front of the White House at Lafayette Square. Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, and the Trump administration are all implicated in the murder of Heather Heyer.”
“The Alt-Right relentlessly harass and threaten people of color, women, sex workers, trans and non-binary people, and the undocumented,” the video states. “Their rallies are all public displays of violence and calls for genocide.”
“They are Brian Trainer and every killer cop,” the video states. “They are the ICE agents. They are the prison system that breaks up families.”
“We will be in the streets on August 10-12, and we intend to win,” the video concludes.
In the section listed under "Other Calls To Action," they are encouraging supporters who cannot make it to DC to "take to the streets wherever you are. We call on our comrades to organize demonstrations and other actions for the night of August 12. Occupy an ICE office, shut down a police station, or demonstrate at the home of a local racist, ICE agent, or prison profiteer."
Those are open calls to incite illegal actions.... shutting down a a police station is illegal. Occupying a federal government facility is illegal. They are also openly calling on harassing members of the community, and confronting them.
Showing that they intend for their members to take illegal actions that will result in arrests, as happened last week in Berkeley, they have a section titled "Legal" showing legal services "providing legal support to counter-demonstrators organizing against Unite the Right 2.0," and asking them to fill out an emergency contact for form "in case you are arrested."
(Antifa Attacks, Charlottesville, 2017)
BOTTOM LINE
We have two groups, one that most likely includes groups that espouse racist rhetoric the majority of us would find abhorrent, and would simply ignore, using their constitutional right to peaceably to assemble and utilize their right to free speech. That group, Unite the Right, is encouraging its supporters to be non-confrontational, to not engage with the Antifa groups and to not brings weapons or commit illegal activities, and to be cooperative with law enforcement.
Then you have the Antifa groups that are stalking any event or rally planned by any group they do not agree with ideologically, claiming they are "fascists, therefore violence is "necessary," actively encouraging their members to confront, not only the original rally attendees, but ICE agents and police. They are inciting their members to violence by accusing the Unite the Right group, as a whole, President Trump, and the UTR leader, for the death of the woman in Charlottesville in 2017, rather than holding the man that killed her responsible for his actions. They are promoting legal groups to help them after they get arrested.
Lets hope the DC police are prepared and do not order their officers to stand down, as reports indicate happened in Charlottesville in 2017, and that they have a system in place to keep the two groups apart from each other.
ANP will be monitoring events on Sunday and have live updates.
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