Tense rally in Virginia draws everyone from Proud Boys to Black Panthers – many armed

Despite fears of violence and a state-of-the-art country ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, gun rights activists gathered outside the Virginia Capitol on Monday, attracting more right-wing groups more hostile to the government and openly armed in defiance of the law. .

They came to Richmond waving flags and shouting slogans, a volatile collection of extremists and activists whose politics and grudge have troubled the nation in recent weeks. Among the first to arrive were the Boogaloo Bois, then the white nationalists Proud Boys, the Black Panthers and several militias from Virginia. All were brandishing AR 15-type rifles and had a deep suspicion that Democrats under Biden would tighten gun regulations.

Some armed activists gathered outside the cordoned off Capitol Hill, ignoring a gun-free zone where protesters were not supposed to openly carry guns. Dozens of police from the Capitol, city and state patrolled the metal barricades but did not confront the protesters.

The annual rally – held on the day of the state legislature’s lobbying – typically attracts more than 20,000 people, but has been curtailed by the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some stood side by side, but hundreds of other gun rights supporters from across the state drove caravans in solidarity through the streets of this former Confederate capital.

But a united cause quickly gave way to tensions. A dozen Boogaloo Bois, wearing Hawaiian shirts and iconic crests revealing their alliance with Black Lives Matter, cheered as the Black Panthers walked by. The Proud Boys didn’t care about Boogaloo Bois. The Panthers condemned America’s racist past even as others in the crowd accused the Black Lives Matter movement of degrading Confederate monuments. Some denounced the Jan.6 attack on Capitol Hill in support of President Trump while others said they participated in it.

Tom Speciale, 52, a government contractor and military veteran, said he feared a Liberal movement to regulate guns would gain momentum under Biden.

“If they can disarm you,” he said, “they can control you.

Speciale joined the Jan. 6 rally to support Trump, but said he did not enter the Capitol with other members of the crowd, adding that those who did should be subject to ‘an investigation for “potentially criminal acts”.

“People’s passions are very strong,” Speciale said. “They were ultimately exploited by the agitators.”

Throughout Monday afternoon, in a city that once epitomized the Old South, men and women with rifles stood 110 miles from the White House. The nation’s ever-choppy fault lines were evident. Trump was not at the center of the rally, but his specter, the divisions and the rage he sparked resonated. This raised questions – on a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. – about the threats posed by far-right extremism and white supremacy at a time when demands for civil rights and racial justice are increasing.

When an armed protester arrived waving a transgender-friendly flag, a militia member accused him of being a pedophile. A few Proud Boys also made fun of him at first, then decided he was on their side. Spirits erupted when different groups converged, but they never came to blows.

“The proud boys are coming home!” cried a Boogaloo Boi at one point.

“Tell me to my face!” yelled a proud boy.

The police watched from a distance and did not intervene.

A few in the crowd wore Make America Great Again hats, but many others said they did not support Trump, including Mike Dunn, a libertarian local leader of Boogaloo Bois. Dunn, 20, said he attended the rally in defiance of the local ordinance passed by city council and supported by the state legislature last year, with the exception of armed protests.

“This is my Capitol,” he said.

He was not deterred by federal officials investigating Boogaloo Bois and warning that they could target state capitals after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6: “They’ve been chasing us for years,” said Dunn as he stood beside Boogaloo Wood. wearing camouflage, Hawaiian print mask and gun.

He said he was also not afraid of nearby police, despite signs around the city center warning that the open carrying of firearms was prohibited by law.

“They won’t stop us,” Dunn said. He was right.

In a brief appearance at the rally, the leader of the Virginia Citizens’ Defense League said he had no problem with Boogaloo Bois and Proud Boys joining the rally.

“They have the right to be here,” said Philip Van Cleave.

Van Cleave was troubled by new gun control laws like the Richmond Ordinance on Gun-Free Protests and said it was time to send a message: ‘Give us back our rights’ .

Dunn agreed, but said Van Cleave’s lobbying group was not doing enough to challenge these laws.

“All we do is move forward,” Dunn yelled at Van Cleave. “They haven’t solved the problem. The only solution is armed revolt! “

But Dunn made no move to confront the police who were standing a few feet away. Michael Fouche, a member of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, looked at Dunn and scoffed.

“Nice speech”, mutters Fouché, 54, a renovation contractor. “It would have meant more if you had gone to the other side of the barricades.”

After the rally, a local right-wing activist urged gun rights activists to converge on a nearby monument dedicated to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, a Virginia native, in the city’s historic Fan District. Black Lives Matter activists had occupied the monument since last summer, turning it into a memorial to those killed by police.

Police blocked the streets surrounding the monument, which is now covered in graffiti. They arrested a black man who witnesses said was openly carrying a handgun in a gun-free area. The law states that the weapon should have been concealed. Black Lives Matter supporters, several of whom are armed, complained that police were selectively enforcing gun laws, allowing right-wing activists to threaten them.

“It was like that,” said Kyra, 30, who asked to be identified only by her first name. “We’re not going anywhere.”