'Patriot Prayer' rally again heavily outnumbered, again ends with violence, close call
Pickup bearing Confederate, American flags barrels through crowd, but no one is injured, while 'Patriots' claim their opponents are the source of violence.
VANCOUVER, Wash.鈥擩oey Gibson and his Patriot Prayer organization may have a problem: He keeps trying to depict the anarchists and antifascists who show up to oppose his far-right rallies as the sources of the violence that surround them. But once again Sunday, participants from Gibson鈥檚 side at a rally here wound up in trouble for posing a lethal threat to their opponents.
By the day鈥檚 end, at least one 鈥淧atriot鈥� had driven his large black pickup around a crowd of black-clad protesters and then driven it in reverse at high speed through the same crowd. Fortunately, no one was hit by the truck; the driver and released.
Calling it a 鈥淧eaceful March for Freedom,鈥� Gibson organized the latest of his West Coast far-right rallies in somewhat friendlier territory than his usual attempts to provoke left-wing violence in heavily liberal cities. Although Vancouver is only across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., it has a history of voting conservatively, and is also known as the home of several antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� groups.
Sunday鈥檚 event was at a riverfront park amphitheater in downtown Vancouver. And for most of the afternoon, Gibson鈥檚 biggest problem was that his continually declining crowd of supporters 鈥� which numbered less than a hundred 鈥� was so heavily outnumbered, once again, by the gathering of several hundred counter-protesters who came out to shout their disapproval.
The protesters arrived at the park just as Gibson鈥檚 event was scheduled to begin. A long line of Vancouver police in riot gear formed a barrier between them and the Patriot Prayer supporters, keeping them contained on a plaza above the amphitheater.
Before the Vancouver event, however, a number of anti-racist and left-wing groups held a collection of rallies in downtown Portland that attracted hundreds of supporters. And as is often the case, a small clutch of about seven Patriot Prayer supporters showed up in the apparent hope they could inspire violent attacks from their opponents on the left.
Portland police at those rallies, all left-wing supporters of the anti-racist rallies, on a variety of charges, mostly for interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest.
In Vancouver, Gibson offered his thoughts to his gathering of supporters, telling them the counter-protesters were simply 鈥渕isguided,鈥� while he and his rallygoers were all about freedom of speech and 鈥渓ove and peace.鈥�
He also explained his own background, telling the audience that he came from an upbringing as a 鈥渃onstitutionalist,鈥� and that eventually he became a 鈥減repper,鈥� because he expected society to collapse at any moment. But he decided to take action, he said, after attending a Donald Trump rally in San Jose, Calif., in 2016 and encountering violent opposition.
A number of speakers came up to address the audience through the public-address system, all of them repeating Gibson鈥檚 themes. Meanwhile, the crowd of counter-protesters kept up a steady level of noise from chants and shouting.
The trouble began brewing after the speeches were over and the 鈥淧atriots鈥� began leaving. They were met by the crowd of protesters, and several groups of black-clad anarchists began following some of them as they returned to their cars.
One young skinhead and a helmeted companion who had attended the rally walked boldly up the sidewalk past the black-bloc faction, who then began following them down the street. Several brawls erupted as the group moved down the street and toward Vancouver鈥檚 downtown.
Eventually, the entire collection of protesters had marched into the downtown area, some of them following 鈥淧atriots鈥� returning to their cars. It was into this scene that the man with the black pickup, which sported both American and Confederate flags, tried , then drove in reverse at high speed back through them.
A second pickup truck 鈥� this one a white Ford large-cab pickup containing four men wearing 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� shirts 鈥� also circled through city streets, shouting at people on the streets. Witnesses said they were driving at high speeds and veering dangerously toward pedestrians and protesters alike.
鈥淎nd they call us the violent ones!鈥� they shouted at a couple seated outside a Starbucks near the city park.
