Far-right extremists encounter counter-protesters, police at Washington rally

American far-right extremist elements have held a rally in Washington, DC, to protest what they describe as anti-conservative bias on social media, but were outnumbered by anti-fascist counter protesters who held a rival rally.

News ID: 445895

Date: 08 July 2019 - 20:18

RNA - The Saturday event came as the so-called Proud Boys, which describes itself as a "chauvinistic men’s group" and has ties to white nationalism, held a "Demand Free Speech" rally in Washington's Freedom Plaza, just a few blocks from the White House.

Nearly 250 supporters of the radical rightist group took part in the rally, according to local media outlets, which added that the large number of counter protesters that showed up included about 50 anti-fascist, or antifa activists.

At least 100 police officers were deployed to man barricades in a bid to keep the two sides separate. There were, however, no violent clashes between the two groups.

Local news outlets further reported that right-wing activist scheduled to address the Washington rally included former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos and former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone.

Yiannopoulos and the Proud Boys have been banned from Facebook due to their openly racist presentations.

At a Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, last weekend, there was violence between far-right and anti-fascist groups, which, according to police, led to hospitalization of three participants.

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