Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Emily Cochrane

Hundreds of far-right activists faced off with counterprotesters Saturday in a heavily secured public plaza in Washington, surrounded by police officers and swarms of journalists watching for the slightest signs of conflict. They converged for what was billed as the last of three free speech rallies around the country to protest the perceived censorship of conservatives on social media — although many who showed up were far more focused on attacking the other side’s beliefs.

Tensions were particularly high after a rally in Portland, Oregon, last weekend, where a clash between far-right and antifascist groups resulted in several arrests and injuries, including an attack on writer Andy Ngo.

In Washington, separated by a barricaded buffer zone (not to mention a desert of ideological difference), members of the far-right Proud Boys gathered in Freedom Plaza, while a mix of several hundred counterprotesters — black-clad anti-fascists wearing bandannas over their faces, local residents blasting go-go music and others carrying signs denouncing hate — met in Pershing Park, directly across the street.

“There’s a place for anger,” said Mary Ollenburger, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland who was in the park with the counterprotesters. “But there’s a place for peace, too.”

News reports had anticipated scuffles at the rally between members of the antifa movement, who have encouraged violence against people they see as fascist, and the Proud Boys, which admits only men and has been involved in street fights.

But for much of the day, the groups had little interaction, in part because of the scores of police officers among them. A few small skirmishes broke out when antifa members tried unsuccessfully to pierce a line of officers after a brief march through downtown Washington. By early Saturday evening, the police said there had been no arrests or reports of injuries.

At the rally, speakers including far-right activists Laura Loomer, Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, railed against what they said were deliberate efforts by social media giants like Twitter and Facebook to silence their messages online. (While tech companies have struggled with policing their platforms, there is scant evidence that bans are based on ideology.)

“I think I’m probably the most banned person here,” Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys, said before the rally kicked off. “I’ve been banned from my bank account, I’ve been banned from payment processors, coin-based commerce, Airbnb, Uber. You name it, I’ve been banned from it.”

On the other side, in Pershing Park, the counterprotesters criticized the conservative movement and called for the protection of minority rights. Along the street that separated the two sides, a few supporters of President Donald Trump arrived, recording protesters on their phones and immediately drawing demands that they leave.

Jimmie Greer and Angel Cook looked on with amusement. They said they regularly slept in the plaza, and the clamor had forced them to the edge of the park. Greer, 26, said he had been surprised when he woke up to the sight of a makeshift stage and a block buzzing with police officers.

Cook said both sides needed to spend less time yelling at each other.

“Just live your life,” she said. “Protesting can be fun until people want to break windows.”

Philip Anderson, a 24-year-old college student who came to the rally from Texas, complained that his social media accounts had been limited because of his conservative views. “It’s ridiculous that we have to do this,” he said of the rally.

As the event ended, with the police escorting those in Make America Great Again hats and T-shirts that said “Fake News” away from a heckling crowd, protesters on both sides fled for air-conditioning and food with little incident.

A handful of local Quakers gathered in the park wielding Bible-verse signs to “take the temperature down,” as Debbie Churchman, 69, put it.

The protesters had expressed their deep-seated ideas, she said, but the event was hardly a dialogue.

“I don’t think it was the aim to reconcile,” Churchman added.

Far-Right Groups Face Off With Counterprotesters in Washington

WASHINGTON — It was a familiar scene in the nation’s capital: Both sides came to be heard, but neither seemed interested in listening.

Far-right groups face off with counter protesters in Washington

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Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Emily Cochrane

Articles written by the author

Far-right groups face off with counter protesters in Washington