(The "Peace, Love, and Understanding Rally" at Civic Center in San Francisco, CA on the afternoon of August 26th Image: Pablo De La Hoya)
San Francisco — SAN FRANCISCO, 4:30 PM AUGUST 26th, 2017
With tensions high across the country in the wake of Charlottesville, a planned far-right rally at San Francisco's Crissy Field--dubbed the Patriot Prayer by its organizers--attracted national headlines.
Fears ran rampant across the Bay, seemingly on all points of the political spectrum, that a violent clash was in the works between white supremacists who could be attracted to the rally's rhetoric and anti-fascist (aka Antifa) counter-protestors eager to publically defy Nazis and their ilk.
That is, until the Patriot Prayer organizers--unhappy with the nature of the attention they were getting and how their rally was being characterized (rightly or wrongly)--blinked. In a surprise move they canceled the Crissy Field gathering and declared that they would have a press conference in SF's Alamo Square.
That area is closer to SF's Civic Center, where a counter-demonstration was planned. SF authorities denied a permit for the press conference, and shut the Alamo Square area down on Saturday. In the end the Patriot Prayer organizers held their press conference in Pacifica, CA--21 miles southwest of Crissy Field.
The counter-protest, which operated under the Peace, Love, and Understanding Rally name still went on in SF's Civic Center with other pockets of resistance to openly operating white supremacists and the current presidential administration's policies popping up in nearby neighborhoods like the Castro.
Youth Radio reporters spent the day in the field in San Franciso, gathering images and speaking with demonstrators. Here are some of the highlights from our social media feeds.
Crissy Field -- The Canceled Patriot Prayer Rally
Civic Center -- The Peace, Love and Understanding Rally