Right-wing rallies with Proud Boy attendees have been occurring of late in metropolitan areas and Philly is no exception.

PHILADELPHIA, PA– The People’s Movement, a reboot of last fall and winter’s right-wing anti-mask and anti-vaccine “trucker convoys” appeared at Independence Mall July 3rd to hold a rally in front of roughly 30 people. Watching on the sidelines under trees on the facility’s east side were about 40 Proud Boys from western Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere. 

Still utilizing that playbook to some degree, the morning and afternoon rally speakers also addressed, church and state, abortion, and inter-racial racial marriage. These skewed commentaries claimed that because of the Declaration of Independence, there is no separation of church and state; that there isn’t a right to abortion; and, that inter-racial marriage is a bad thing. 

There was a relatively heavy Philadelphia police presence with a dozen-plus Civilian Affairs Unit members, a similar number of deployed bike patrols, and a like number of vehicles nearby and at the ready. The National Park Service was also present, including park police, some of whom wore presumably Level IV hard plate ballistic vests. 

The response here was not readily due to the Proud Boys presence, but instead, the rally organizers’ paramilitary security presence, the Iron City Civilian Response Unit. This entity includes — commonly neo-Nazi associated — valknots in their insignia . Their presence included but was not limited to openly armed individuals with AR- pattern rifles, sidearms, ballistic vests, IFAKS (traumatic wound kits), and various communication devices. At and around Independence Mall, they posted, sentried, reconnoitered, and patrolled. 

The conduct here rose to a level of police concern that the adjacent Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was asked to close, i.e., not open during regular hours (The museum opens at 10 a.m.). Soon after this, local police brass instructed that an Emergency Response Team assemble and form on Arch Street next to the National Constution Center.

Further action took place about 30 minutes before noon when the Proud Boys broke off from the rally and marched west on Market Street towards City Hall. After a detour or two into the Gayborhood/Midtown Village, they gathered for a respite at an establishment that was once a firehouse. Later, they marched to the 12/13th Street PATCO train station where some were cited by the port authority police for conduct infractions such as smoking. (PATCO is a train line that serves the city’s downtown and suburban New Jersey communities.)

Back at the rally and after the lunch break, the speakers’ counter-factual rhetoric started being fact-checked in real time by some observant audience members. This resulted in paramilitary “security” member Matthew Wakulik taking the podium to “defend” the speaker. 

At this point, things got heated and “gunplay” was emerging as a distinct possibility. Thus, the police shut down the rally around 2:45 p.m., 1.25 hours before its scheduled end time. 

The day’s gawkers and other observers were quite right, this was indeed a fraught situation. It is a matter that needs further careful consideration since religious zealots, conspiracy theorists, and irregular armed forces are working together, as shown here.