Alt-Right Violence In America

Berkeley, California was the site of another clash between members of the ‘Alt-Right’ and anti-fascists on Saturday, with estimates of between 500 to 1,000 people involved in the confrontation at its peak.

The clash came in response to a ‘Patriot’s Day Free Speech Rally’ organised by Liberty Revival Alliance and March4Trump founder, Rich Black. Speakers at the rally included the ‘Alt-Light’ Lauren Southern and Brittany Pettibone, conspiracy theorist and creator of the Virtues of the West podcast. Also to speak was Kyle Chapman AKA ‘Based Stick Man’, who was arrested after fighting a member of the public when promoting the rally days before.

Nathan Damigo, leader of the white supremacist organisation Identity Evropa, is being investigated after footage showed him punching a woman in the face at the event.

Security for the speakers and Trump supporters was provided by the citizen militia group, Oath Keepers, and the Western Chauvinist fraternal organisation Proudboys USA. ProudBoys was created by Rebel Media’s Gavin McInnes, who had previously dissociated the organisation from March4Trump following violence from its members at another Berkeley March4Trump rally on March 4th.

Members of the Alt-Right have increased security and violent confrontations at their public events, and the same is likely to be the case for the appearance of Richard Spencer at Auburn University, Virginia. Spencer, whose talk was cancelled by the university over fears of precisely such violence, has vowed to come to the campus regardless.

As the Southern Poverty Law Center reported, Pat Hines, the South Carolina chairman of the League of the South, commented on Occidental Dissent, a white nationalist website, that they should “Be ready to do battle, if necessary,”.