Seattle 'Patriot Prayer' Rally Takes a Twist As Leader Gibson Denounces Supremacists
Crowd of protesters heavily outnumbers alt-right 'Patriot' supporters, but critics welcomed onstage, violence is minimal with shift in tone.
SEATTLE鈥擳he tone of Sunday鈥檚 alt-right rally in downtown Seattle was remarkably different from that of previous protests organized by the Portland, Oregon-based Patriot Prayer provocateurs, at least on the surface.
As in previous rallies led by Joey Gibson, Patriot Prayer鈥檚 chief organizer, counter-protesters massively outnumbered his band of right-wing supporters, which as always included a notable contingent of armed and armored 鈥淚II Percent鈥� militiamen working as security听for the event.
And once again, the rally was loudly booed and interrupted by the chanting protesters, a number of them black-clad 鈥渁ntifascists.鈥� They were generally held back, again, by barriers around the rally and by a massive police presence.
However, unlike previous rallies, Gibson invited a number of non-supporters onstage to voice their opposing views, sometimes in harsh terms. Even Gibson himself offered some stark views, making clear they were in response to the violence at the alt-right event the day before in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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鈥淟isten, what happened yesterday, if you believe in your heart that what happened yesterday is not what you stand for, if you are against what happened yesterday, do not ever let these people make you feel bad!鈥� he told the rallygoers. 鈥淏ecause we weren鈥檛 there, and we had nothing to do with that! Patriot Prayer has always preached peace, and has always preached love, a hundred percent of the time!鈥�
Later, as the rally wound down, he became more explicit.
鈥淔---听white supremacists! F--- neo-Nazis!鈥� Gibson told the crowd, reminding them that he himself is a person of color, 鈥渁nd I have no use for that kind of thinking. It鈥檚 wrong.鈥�
This may have surprised some of his supporters, including those with whom Gibson had marched the week before in Portland. At that rally, a number of white-nationalist Identity Evropa activists (notably Jake Von Ott, leader of the local Evropa unit) participated on the alt-right side of the protest, including throwing punches in several of the brawls that broke out.
Sunday鈥檚 march was more peaceful, with no brawls breaking out, though they threatened to on several occasions but appeared to be broken up by police intervention. Gradually, after several hours of speeches from听a broad range of people, the rally broke down into several attempts at conversation between protesters and 鈥淧atriots,鈥� though there were no signs that any new friendships were imminent.
Gibson was confronted near the stage by a young woman in Seahawks garb as he was trying to wrap things up. She wanted to know why he brought a 鈥淭rump rally鈥� to Seattle.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a Trump rally,鈥� Gibson told her.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a Trump rally?鈥� she replied. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e just got all these people in Trump hats, selling them Trump shit, bumper stickers, everything.鈥�
鈥淧eople can support 鈥斕齱e had Hillary supporters up here, we had Bernie supporters up here, Black Lives Matters, we had Trump haters up here,鈥� Gibson retorted.
A short while later, police ordered Gibson and his supporters to exit the park through a long police phalanx that protected them from the protesters. Gibson was among the last to leave.
Among his next events is an August 26 event in San Francisco he is calling scheduled for Chrissy Field Beach. As with Gibson鈥檚 previous events 鈥斕齣ncluding his 鈥渇ree speech鈥� protest one week after a fatal stabbing of two men by an alt-right fanatic on a Portland train, as well as his attempt to provoke the 鈥渧iolent left鈥� at the campus of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington听鈥� the effort clearly appears more an attempt to troll the left than a sincere effort at dialogue.
