by Jo Freeman

 

When Unite the Right announced it would hold another rally on the anniversary of the one it held in Charlottesville in 2017, it caused a great amount of consternation. They received a permit to hold it in Washington, D.C., at Lafayette Square across from the White House, raising specters of carnage in the nation’s capital.  Violence had permeated the 2017 event, resulting in the death of a counter-protestor. 

 

In their effort to avoid a crisis, DC police spent weeks in planning. The officers turned out in such great numbers that the scene almost resembled a uniform convention.  Additional officers were scattered around the various counter protest sites.  Streets were closed for several blocks.  Police posted signs saying no firearms within 1000 feet of the Square. Unite the Right’s permit application said they expected one to four hundred participants.  They planned to meet in Virginia, take the Metro to DC, then march to Lafayette Square.  Their numbers dropped drastically by August 12; roughly two dozen rightists were protected by about 200 police.

 

An opportunity to protest white supremacy attracted considerable attention from various left-wing groups.  At least two groups had permits for rallies from the National Park Service.  The Shut It Down DC Coalition set up its stage at Freedom Plaza. After three hours of speakers, it marched to Lafayette Square in mid-afternoon.  The ANSWER coalition set up in Lafayette Park, but it wasn’t in the usual place for such rallies.  The National Park Service put them in the far northeast corner, where they could only put up a small stage and had to supply their own generator.  Most of Lafayette Square was blocked off by barricades, monitored by Park Police.  Hours before the rightists were scheduled to appear, one couldn’t get within 100 feet of where they were supposed to be, in the far southwest corner.

 

Black Lives Matter and cognate groups rallied on 16th St., above Lafayette Square before marching to the Square.  Jews United for Justice held discussions several days before; they joined the short march from Freedom Plaza to Lafayette Square.  It’s fortunate there wasn’t much actual marching because the day was hot and humid.  Freedom Plaza has no shade.  Lafayette Park is well endowed with trees, but the NPS put the rally in a spot where trees were few.

 

 The “hottest” group (literally) was Antifa, a term applicable to a loose collection of groups and individuals that organizes locally to oppose anything they deem fascistic.  Politically, they combine anarchism with socialism, but what distinguishes them from other left-wing groups is their embrace of physical confrontation.  Opposition to white racism is a core belief, but they are not descendants of the 1960s civil rights movement because they reject non-violence.

 

 

By mid-afternoon about 50 Antifa had gathered in Farragut Square a couple blocks NW of Lafayette Square.  With a couple exceptions, they were dressed in black from head to toe, including face masks and helmets.  It’s amazing they didn’t drop from heat stroke.  As soon as they pulled out their banners and prepared to march, a couple dozen cops materialized to line the edge of the square.  As Antifa marched down 17th St. toward the Pennsylvania Ave. entrance to Lafayette Square, the cops kept pace.  Trucks and police cars blocked any attempt to march down side streets.

 

Carrying a large banner that proclaimed NO HATE, NO FEAR, they chanted “Any time, any place, punch a Nazi in the face.”

 

The rightists had announced that they would march on Lafayette Square from a Metro stop seven blocks away.  Efforts by counter-protestors to meet them there were thwarted by the police.  Not only were all streets blocked, but the right-wingers had left the Metro station two hours before they were supposed to arrive there from Virginia.  Deception, as well as overwhelming numbers, was part of the police strategy to protect them.

 

Metro had planned to run separate cars for the rightists from a stop in Virginia but backed off when its union — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 — publicized the plan, declaring it outrageous.  However, the police thought that separate was safer, so that’s what was done.  Since there were fewer rightists than would normally fit into one Metro car, this might have staved off some confrontations. 

 

When they emerged from the Metro station two hours early, only a few counter-protestors were there to greet them.  Surrounded by police, they marched to Lafayette Square, where they spoke for over an hour.  In the meantime, Antifa clustered at Pennsylvania Ave. and 17th St. in order to keep the rightists out.  Since their intended target was not there they hassled the cops with chants, eggs, flares and firecrackers. By the time Antifa dissipated, the rightists had completed their rally and been hauled back to the Metro in three police vans.

 

Estimates of total numbers of protestors ranged from one to fifteen thousand.  My best guess is about five thousand, made uncertain by the fact that people came and went from two rally locations.  In the end, everyone was sent home by Mother Nature, who turned on the spigots soon after the rightists left Lafayette Square. There was only one arrest in DC.  Four were arrested in Charlottesville, which held a commemorative counter-protest without a protest. The DC Mayor’s office stated that the taxpayers spent $2.6 million to protect two dozen rightists – roughly $100,000 each.

 

©2018 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com