Patriot Front Marches Through Washington, DC, During Fourth Of July And 250th Anniversary

Members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched through areas around the United States capital during July 4 festivities, with videos showing rows of men in khaki pants, khaki baseball caps and dark blue shirts taking escalators down to the Washington, DC, underground rail system and boarding metro cars.

“Members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front have orchestrated marches around the United States capital, many obscuring their faces with white fabric masks and sunglasses”

Al Jazeera

The march coincided with the Fourth of July and the capital’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and the Patriot Front’s Telegram channel indicated the group expected more than 400 white nationalists to participate in Saturday’s events.

Al Jazeera

Spectrum News said Patriot Front marched on the Capitol on Saturday as Washington, D.C., celebrated the nation’s 250th anniversary with multiple events on the National Mall.

The Washington Post described “hundreds of uniformed members of what appeared to be Patriot Front” marching through the city and toward the Capitol, with faces covered in white masks and the men carrying shields, drums and flags as they chanted, “Reclaim America!”

Mitchell Miller, a reporter for radio station WTOP, posted video to his X account of the Patriot Front march, while Spectrum News noted that the Metropolitan Police Department told it it was tracking First Amendment activities in the Eastern Market neighborhood.

Spectrum News also cited the Washington Post’s description of masked marchers carrying American and Confederate flags and chanting “Reclaim America!”, and it said the X account Patriot Takes estimated the group at about 400 people.

El Mundo

Al Jazeera quoted George Washington University’s Program on Extremism describing Patriot Front as a fascist organisation dedicated to “creating a white ethnostate in the United States”.

Al Jazeera also quoted Senator Ed Markey calling for officials to condemn Saturday’s march, writing, “We cannot be silent in the face of white nationalists marching in our nation’s capitol.”

Spectrum News said the Metropolitan Police Department recognized the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views while remaining committed to maintaining public safety and security for DC residents and visitors.

“Looking back at the Donald Trump inauguration ceremony, followed by numerous decree signings”

RFI

Al Jazeera said critics have accused the administration of President Donald Trump of emboldening such groups, including by spreading false conspiracies like the great replacement theory, a racist belief which posits that white Christians are being supplanted by minorities.

Al Jazeera also connected Patriot Front to the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists and neo-Nazis converged and where James Alex Fields Jr attacked counter-protesters by driving his car into a crowd, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Al Jazeera reported that Trump responded to the Charlottesville incident by saying, “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.”