SAN FRANCISCO -- A rightist group on Friday canceled a "freedom rally" it had planned for today near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, easing fears of violence for city leaders, though others remained.
The group, known as Patriot Prayer, instead planned a news conference at a park in the city today to explain what its leader Joey Gibson called the failure of police and elected officials to keep the group safe.
Gibson said Friday that the group also planned to join another rally on Sunday in nearby Berkeley -- an anti-Marxist gathering -- but that rally's organizer canceled the event later in the day, citing fears for attendees' safety.
The anti-Trump organization By Any Means Necessary, which has sometimes supported violent tactics, had vowed to shut down the Berkeley rally even before it gained new prominence with the cancellation of Gibson's event.
Gibson said the rhetoric of Mayor Ed 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 the group disavows racism and hatred, but mistrust remained.
"We don't trust this group. I never have from the beginning," San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said of Patriot Prayer.
Lee said the group had not canceled the event in writing, so police will still be there and anywhere else they need to be to keep the city safe.
The civic leaders are on edge after the Aug. 12 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that turned deadly.
Earlier Friday, hundreds of people rallied raucously and danced against hate in advance of the now-canceled event.
People held signs that read "Unite Against Hate" and cheered religious and elected officials who took the microphone to speak of love and champion diversity in a city that prides itself as a sanctuary for gays, minorities and people who are in the country illegally.
Hip-hop artist MC Hammer, who grew up across the bay in Oakland, railed against the hate that killed leaders in the 1960s, including President John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X.
"Hate is dangerous, and we can't sit back and say, well, let them demonstrate, it'll go away," he told the cheering crowd. "That's not the way hate operates, so we have to stay on top of it and let it know it can't be comfortable here in our home."
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A Section on 08/26/2017