A "Patriots Day" rally is scheduled in Berkeley's Civic Center Park on Saturday, April 15, and authorities there are, rightly, concerned that it will just be a repeat of the violent events of March 4, when pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions faced off in this park leading to multiple scuffles and arrests. This time, however, the regularly scheduled farmers' market that typically happens adjacent to the park has been canceled, as a precaution, according to East Bay Express.
Presented as a "free speech rally," the Patriots Day event shows over 200 people going on Facebook, and over 300 "interested," and a counter-protest and cookout scheduled simultaneously in Civic Center Park shows 180 going so far and 477 interested. On the Patriots Day page, among the comments, several attendees say they are coming up from Southern California to attend.
Much like the March 4 rally, the event is not permitted.
Says one of the Patriots Day organizers, Rich Black, who was involved in the March 4 event as well, "I know there are many concerns regarding allegations of the LRA and this event having association with Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, or Workers Party groups. I assure you that we do not have any association with anyone who promotes these radical views or hateful rhetoric."
And while the alt-right likes to refer to the militant end of the resistance as the "antifa," including Breitbart which takes great pleasure in the farmers' market cancelation detail the anti-Trump faction from Strike Against Gender Bay Area calls for their supporters to "drown out the embarrassing attempts of racists and nationalists to display their hate-fueled support for Trump."
Berkeley Police Sgt. Andrew Frankel tells CBS 5 that following the chaos of March 4 and complaints that there was not enough police intervention, they will be bulking up the police presence ahead of Saturday's rally. "We’ve staffed accordingly and we’re preparing for a number of different contingencies," Frankel says.
The East Bay Express reports that the rally is set to feature "a cadre of contentious speakers, including Pizzagate-believer and AltRight.com contributor Brittany Pettibone, Twitter personality “Baked Alaska” (whose racist and anti-Semitic tweets got him uninvited from the “DeploraBall,” ... and Lauren Southern, a Canadian college student and female men’s rights activist, who broke into internet fame for shouting at rape victims." Southern announced her attendance at the rally in the YouTube video shown below, explaining that everyone should be prepared for the violent behavior of the "Berkeley antifa" who shut down Milo Yiannopoulos.
So, once again, Berkeley is being made to be Ground Zero in the battle between alt-right and far left, and both sides seem to be itching for actual, physical battle, even though both sides will likely characterize the other as inciting violence first.
Furthermore, at this rally, the EBX says that two alt-right groups, The Oath Keepers and 12 Million Bikers, have signed on to provide "security" at the event.
Berkeley police have still been on the hunt for several suspects who were photographed engaging in violent behavior at the March 4 event, releasing three more photos just this week.
Previously: Pro-Trump Rally In Berkeley Turns Predictably Messy, 10 Arrested
