A large group of masked men wearing the markings of a well-known white nationalist group marched with flags and chanted “reclaim America!” in Washington on Saturday morning, as the capital city prepared for the main events celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The march, through neighborhoods around the U.S. Capitol, was brief, though bystanders posted scores of videos on social media. The group left the city sometime before 11 a.m., the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.
The group of apparently several hundred people wore tan baseball hats marked with the logo of the white supremacist group Patriot Front, which includes a ring of 13 white stars, a reference to the first American colonies. They carried various flags, including the Confederate battle flag.
“M.P.D. recognizes the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views and remains committed to maintaining public safety and security for D.C. residents and visitors,” a police spokeswoman said in a statement.
Patriot Front, which has long called for the United States to be turned into a white ethno-state, has a history of staging high-profile demonstrations, almost always in the same uniform of dark shirts, khaki pants, work boots and white face masks. “This definitely looks like Patriot Front,” said Mary McCord, a former assistant attorney general for national security under presidents Obama and Trump. She said the logo on their hats, which includes imagery resembling fascist symbols of Italy in the 1930s, was consistent with the group, as was the clothing.
The group — which broke away from another white nationalist organization, Vanguard America, in 2017 after the bloody “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. — has employed the same tactics in different cities. Demonstrators often show up in public spaces in rented U-Hauls, spilling out onto the streets for a flag-waving march before piling back into the trucks and disappearing.
Two summers ago, hundreds of Patriot Front members descended on Nashville, carrying upside-down American flags and causing a major uproar in the city.
Sabrina Tavernise contributed reporting.
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