You have to wonder for all the concern about violence why the same right wing groups that provoked it last month are allowed to hide their plans for it behind the free speech it goes beyond. That’s how Charlottesville happened.

UPDATE 12/10/2020: We included information about the charter bus that was denied to Super Happy Fun America!

WASHINGTON, DC – As Proud Boys, militia organizations and other far right groups plan to rally this weekend just ahead of the electoral vote, there have been efforts to stymie the rally itself after last month’s rally sponsored by the same groups resulted in violence instigated by them. Those efforts have included alerting area hotels that these groups might use their establishments, to a possible challenge to the permit itself.

While many antifascist groups and individuals from around the country plan to come out Saturday to counter the latest rally, the last one on Nov. 14, where the neo-fascist Proud Boys joined supporters of Donald Trump as they attacked counter-protesters and vandalized signs promoting Black Lives Matter, many of them on private property, and most notably on the fence at Black Lives Matter Plaza by tearing down signs and memorial pictures of the men, women and children murdered by police, has prompted is a local coalition of activists under the #DefendDC hashtag to not only promote those efforts, but also urge hotels to shut their doors to those groups. As the Nov. 14 rally was underway, Joshua Justice Skillman, 28, of Dallas, Ga., and his girlfriend, Samantha Falk, 33, of Atlanta, who said they were in Washington to “support their president,” were arrested near the AC Hotel as they walked through a crosswalk at 11th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW carrying semiautomatic weapons, which neither had a DC permit to carry. When police searched their room at the AC Hotel, they found additional weapons and ammunition, including what had been described as a loaded submachine gun. A police spokesperson said that they were affiliated with a militia group.

Everyone can help!
Below are some resources that y’all can use to #DefendDC.
If y’all cannot come out on December 11th & 12th than think about helping us and calling the Capital Hilton. We must keep #DC safe and stop the spread of Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/aFSp71Swc2

— DC Youth Liberation Front (@dcylf) December 4, 2020

When it was learned that the Boston-based neo-fascist group Super Happy Fun America, who has a history of violence often alongside the Proud Boys, attempted to charter a bus to attend the rally, calls were made to the bus company who was unaware of the nature of the charter. By Thursday afternoon, they announced that they rescinded the charter.

We were made aware of a trip that does not match our company values and have canceled this trip.
GOGO Charters strongly condemns acts of hate and violence, including against minorities and the LGBTQ+ community.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Best,
GOGO Charters.

— GOGO Charters (@GOGOcharters) December 10, 2020

In a statement, #DefendDC made clear the importance of coming out and opposing the groups that will be out on Saturday. “On the 14th, after the leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, posted, ‘DC Antifa Ends Tonight’, hundreds of Proud Boys took to the streets, looking for opponents to attack.” the email read. “They soon found some. Fights ensued, leading to several stabbings and assaults by the Proud Boys, who also destroyed banners on private property proclaiming that Black lives matter. It’s up to all of us to make sure this won’t happen again.”

Women for America First (WFAF) is one of the organizations that coordinated the Nov. 14 event, and it is under their name that the Dec. 12 permit was obtained. A letter was sent to the National Park Service when WFAF originally attempted to reserve the Lincoln Memorial area, an effort that was squashed by the Inauguration Committee who are currently preparing the grounds for Jan. 20 and typically hold permits in the area months ahead of time. The letter questioned if they should even be allowed to have a permit in the city given the violent disruptions of last month’s rally that they were a part of.

“I saw significant evidence myself and heard from many friends in D.C. about the significant public safety and health risks, flagrant violation of DC laws and ordinances, and direct violence that came to our city as a result of the permitted activities this same group organized at Freedom Plaza on November 14, 2020,” letter writer Joshua Carroll wrote. “One friend of mine ended up in the ER that night after they were attacked by folks who I understand were in town for that demonstration.”

Carroll noted that while First Amendment rights should be respected, the concerns for public safety still have to be taken into consideration. “Given Women for America First’s previous negligence around COVID (& other physical safety concerns), in this case further public input and additional scrutiny by NPS and other local AHJs seems appropriate,” he said.

WFAF was founded in 2019 by former Tea Party activist Amy Kremer and her daughter Kylie, Amy has either founded or has been involved in several PACs over the years, among them Women Vote Trump which she founded with Kathryn Serkes and Ann Stone, Republican Operative and convicted felon Roger Stone’s ex-wife who is now promoting Stop the Steal, the conspiracy theory touting the fallacy that there were voting irregularities that cost Donald Trump the presidential election. The Stop the Steal website was actually created by Roger Stone in 2016 to fundraise ahead of that year’s election, asked for $10,000 donations by saying, “If this election is close, THEY WILL STEAL IT.” Amy Kremer’s Stop the Steal Facebook page that she created in 2020 was removed by the platform two days after the election with a Facebook spokesperson saying in a statement that “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

The counter-rally to the MAGA event is expected to be last throughout the day and evening of Dec. 11 and 12.