Armed militias flock to Gettysburg to foil 'flag-burning protest' that was all a hoax

Armed rightwing militia groups descended on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania over the weekend, in a bid to protect the historic town from a flag-burning protest that never occurred and was in all likelihood a fake event advertised on social media.

Dozens of militia members, some from as far away as Delaware, came to the site of a pivotal civil war battle in 1863, after posts on Facebook claimed anti-fascist groups planned to protest there over the Fourth of July national holiday.

The online rumours appeared to originate from posts written by a group named “Left Behind USA”, which promised an event where attendees would “burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue”, according to now deleted messages reviewed by the Washington Post.

The posts also said organisers would “be giving away free small flags to children to safely throw into the fire”.

Local “antifa” organizers denied any involvement in the event, which they described as a “complete fabrication”.

“No antifa groups have planned a rally there that day,” a representative for Central PA Antifa told the Evening Sun newspaper, in Pennsylvania.

Biographical details provided by a representative from the “Left Behind USA” group did not match any official documents, according to the Post.

Nonetheless, dozens of militia members and far-right protesters descended on the town’s national cemetery on Saturday, many heavily armed.

One man, Mike Boyer, told local media he had come to prevent violence.

“We will defend everybody’s right to freedom of speech,” Boyer told PennLive. “We want everybody to have a voice, because we think we all participated in building this nation. [But] everyone’s lives matter, end of story.”

Reports indicated that rightwing protesters confronted one man, wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, who had entered the cemetery to pay his respects to an ancestor. The cemetery was created for Union soldiers killed during the 1863 battle.

The man, named by the Post as Trent Somes, claimed he was surrounded by 50 militia members who quizzed him about his T-shirt. According to a press statement from the Gettysburg national military park, Somes was later removed from the cemetery by Department of Homeland Security police officers, to protect his own safety.