White Supremacist Street Gangs Are Going to BLM Protests
Groups similar in ethos and organization to the very violent Rise Above Movement have been spotted at recent protests in the U.S.
Among the far-right, it isn’t just
Boogaloo types in Hawaiian shirts or men like the
armed militia in New Mexico that are showing up to Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Violent white supremacist street gangs are also ominously posting online about their presence in the shadows of protesters clamouring for racial equality.
Two groups similar in organization and ethos to the
Rise Above Movement (RAM)—a notoriously violent California-based white supremacist organization that is essentially a racist fight club known for attacking antifascist activists at protests—have been posting photos on Telegram of themselves inside BLM protests or stickering their insignia at locations where marches are taking place. One of the groups, which VICE News will not identify to avoid amplifying their message, has an alleged member who was a participant in neo-Nazi terrorist organization The Base, which has been under an intense
FBI crackdown in recent months.
The news that white supremacist groups are appearing at marches protesting police brutality and promoting racial equality comes in the wake of the Trump administration and
Republican lawmakers making noise about designating antifascist activism in its totality as a
“terrorist organization.”
Although the Telegram activities of the groups viewed by VICE News have not involved distinct claims of carrying out assaults at protests, the supposed silent presence of white supremacist groups at protests seems designed to intimidate the activists they despise.
“The boys are on the ground at a potential BLM riot in the South End of Boston,” says a post from one of the groups, showing a row of riot cops and a man with American flag mask looking on. (The
Anti-Defamation League noted that this particular group was handing stickers out at a protest in Boston.)
More:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj4ky5/white-supremacist-street-gangs-are-going-to-blm-protests