Patriot Prayer backs down, cancels Crissy Field rally

Organizers of the Patriot Prayer have cancelled a highly contentious event in San Francisco that was to take place Saturday at Crissy Field.

The Portland-based group received a permit from the National Park Service to hold its “Freedom Rally” at Crissy Field, but organizers believe the rally will not be safe tomorrow for attendees.

Joey Gibson, an organizer with the Patriot Prayer and who registered for the permit, said during a Facebook live video feed Friday afternoon that the event seems like a “setup” due to rhetoric from Mayor Ed Lee and other officials who have called the group members as ”white supremacists.”

Gibson said:

“The rhetoric from Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Lee and the media, all these people are saying that we’re white supremacists and is bringing in a ton of extremists.”

Gibson added:

“It doesn’t seem safe. A lot of people’s lives are going to be in danger tomorrow.”

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott had said all officers would have been available during the Saturday event and throughout The City as other rallies will take place during the Crissy Field rally.

Gibson said he had hoped people would be searched in the line to get into Crissy Field, but said that was not going to happen and that anyone could have come into the rally, including white supremacists and members of antifa, a far left militant group.

Instead, Patriot Prayer members will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Alamo Square Park to elaborate on why they cancelled to the event.

Gibson said the group still plans to attend a rally in Berkeley on Sunday.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold Chinn is the San Francisco Bureau Chief of SFBay. He covers transportation and City Hall. He has spent over a decade covering transportation in San Francisco. Jerold is a native in the city and frequently takes public transit everywhere he goes. Email tips to jerold@sfbay.ca.