(SF GATE) — San Francisco’s top political leaders piled on Tuesday in opposition to a right-wing group’s planned rally next week at Crissy Field, with Mayor Ed Lee expressing outrage that the National Park Service granted a permit for the event and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi questioning whether it had been approved “under guidance from the White House.”
An organizer of the Aug. 26 rally rejected suggestions that it would be a gathering of white supremacists. And the local managers of the Presidio, a national park site, said the group’s politics made no difference because it had a constitutional right to a permit — as long as public safety isn’t endangered.
Pelosi, Lee and Sen. Dianne Feinstein said their fear is that law enforcement won’t be able to ensure public safety, especially in the aftermath of Saturday’s violence at a rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va. A woman was killed and 19 people were hurt when a car was driven into a crowd of counterprotesters, allegedly by a man who has espoused neo-Nazi views.
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area tentatively issued a permit to the group Patriot Prayer for the Crissy Field rally before last weekend’s violence. Patriot Prayer says on its website that it is "about fighting corruption and big government with the strength and power of love ... and extending free speech for all."
The group was not connected to the Virginia rally of white nationalists. However, its recent events in Portland, Ore., and Seattle have served as magnets for right-wing extremists, who in turn have drawn left-wing counterprotesters. Clashes between the two sides marked the Portland event, while the Seattle rally Sunday was largely peaceful.
The group is ostensibly religious, but its purpose is really “an attempt to provoke black-clad ideologues...
(Excerpt) Read more at kcra.com ...
