California cities fear violence at latest right-wing protests

Seeking to prevent a pair of right-wing weekend rallies from spiralling into violence, Bay Area authorities are vowing a bolstered police presence and urging counter-protestors to stay away as federal officials rebuffed a high-profile attempt to halt a San Francisco rally.

While organisers of the events in Berkeley and San Francisco have disavowed racism and violence, elected officials and police officers are on high alert after a car rammed into a a crowd of counter-protesters against a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia two weekends ago.

Anger over the bloodshed, combined with the Bay Area’s propensity for intense activism and a history of clashes at protests, makes for a volatile mix. Ahead of a scheduled “No Marxism in America”, rally in Berkeley, posters announcing “Nazis are coming” have appeared around town, a message promoted by the Berkeley branch of an anti-fascist group - called Antifa for short - that has battled with white supremacists in the past.

Politicians in both cities lambasted what they called forces of division and bigotry but asked citizens not to give rally organisers the reaction they crave.

An effort by elected officials to block the "Patriot Prayer" event at San Francisco's Golden Gate National Recreation Area failed as the National Park Service said the event would be allowed to proceed, overriding a request from Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, Mayor Ed Lee and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to revoke a permit. After considering the request, the park service announced on Wednesday that the event would be allowed to proceed, saying it could not deny a permit based on based on a “political stance or beliefs”.

In response, Ms. Pelosi released statement ruing the “ill-conceived decision” and said “we must all pray it does not become an invitation to incite violence”. Soon after the park service announced its decision, Lee convened a press conference at San Francisco City Hall in which he pronounced himself “deeply disappointed” and urged citizens to ignore rightwing agitators.

“I ask that people avoid going to Crissy Field and engaging with members of Patriot Prayer, because that is precisely what they wish us to do”, Mr. Lee said. “And I don't want to dignify their message of hate and their message of division”.

As he spoke Mr Lee was flanked by San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, who stressed that guns and ammunition would not be allowed at the event and said that police officers would not escort attendees. He reiterated that the department would marshal a surge in officers.

"You will see a very, very large presence of officers", Mr Scott said, adding that "we are staffing up for that".

In imploring his citizens to make other plans, Mr Lee echoed a Tuesday press conference on the steps of Berkeley City Hall in which a passel of elected officials denounced violence and issued a simple plea to counterprotesters: sit this one out.

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin acknowledged “we’ve seen hate groups and their sympathizers agitate on our streets” spouting “hateful rhetoric”, adding that “sometimes these people come eager for a fight”.

Yet “as much as you would like to show your physical opposition to hate, confrontations only serve the perpetrators”, Arreguin said, imploring citizens not to attend “for their own safety” and continuing to promote alternative events scheduled for that day.

Similarly, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif, warned that Donald Trump's remarks comparing white supremacists to leftist protestors “have emboldened white supremacists, white nationalists and neo-Nazis across the country” and called the planned demonstration “offensive” but said “let us be peaceful” in response.

“If no one shows up to their events, then they have no one to incite violence against. So those of us who don't want to see the violence, we will ignore them”, said Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner. “Do not come here...do not bite their bait and give them any circumstances. If they must do violence then they can do it against themselves.”

Berkeley city council members prepared for the unpermitted rally by passing a new ordinance expanding the areas in which police officers can confiscate weapons and take other measures to keep the peace to areas like sidewalks outside of public parks.

“It provides the department with another tool”, said Officer Jennifer Coats, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Police Department. She declined to provide details of the department's plans but said they were coordinating with the local sheriff's office.