Two organizers have canceled their alt-right rallies around the San Francisco area over fears their events would be met with violence from counter-protesters.
Both a ‘freedom’ and a ‘No to Marxism in Berkeley’ rally were abruptly called off on Friday ahead of their planned demonstrations on Saturday.
Group Patriot Prayer said it would hold a news conference instead to explain what its leader Joey Gibson called the failure of officials to keep their attendees safe.
Gibson was planning on joining Amber Cummings, a transgender woman who supports President Trump, who was hosting a ‘No to Marxism in Berkeley’ rally.
Cummings pleaded for no one to go to her rally because she feared there would be violence and admitted she was scared for her own safety.
Joey Gibson (left), of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, and Amber Cummings (right), a transgender woman who supports President Trump, both canceled their Saturday alt-right rallies in the San Francisco area on Friday
Cummings pleaded for no one to go to her rally because she feared there would be violence and admitted she was scared for her own safety (pictured)
Cummings said that because of ‘violet threats’ and ‘past history of police being ordered to stand down at prior rallies’ she would cancel her event, reported the SF Gate.
She added: ‘This rally will take place, but it will be me alone attending, no one else please.
‘In the event I am hurt or killed attending this rally, I ask you to please not retaliate on each other as a result of my injuries. Let my life be the last one lost.’
Although Gibson and Cummings have publicly announced they would no longer hold their alt-right rallies, the San Francisco mayor said he didn’t trust them.
Mayor Ed Lee said Friday night that despite organizers saying it’s called off, they have not canceled the event in writing so the city is proceeding as though it’s still happening.
Lee said: ‘We don’t trust this group. I never have from the beginning.’
Cummings (pictured) said that because of ‘violet threats’ and ‘past history of police being ordered to stand down at prior rallies’ she would cancel her rally
Gibson (pictured at another protest) said he would hold a news conference instead to explain the failure of police and elected officials to keep his rally attendees safe
Lee also urged people not to show up at the news conference the group plans to hold instead of the rally, but said police would be there and at the rally site.
Gibson had said the rhetoric of Lee and other San Francisco leaders prompted the decision to replace the rally at Crissy Field with the news conference at Alamo Park.
Gibson has said his group disavows racism and hatred.
The anti-Trump organization By Any Means Necessary, which has sometimes supported violent tactics, had vowed to shut down Cummings’ rally even before it gained new prominence with the cancellation of the Saturday event.
The civic leaders are on edge following the August 12 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly.
Deirdre Hussey, spokeswoman for Lee, had no comment on the cancellation.
San Fransicso Mayor Ed Lee said Friday night that despite organizers saying it’s called off, they have not cancelled the event in writing so the city is proceeding as though it’s still happening