Citing the 40,000-strong anti-fascist protest in Boston Saturday, the largest anti-Muslim group in the U.S. has canceled nearly 67 “America First” rallies in 36 states.
ACT for America, who claims to “prioritize real protection over political correctness,” had planned nationwide rallies on Sept. 9 to support President Donald Trump’s “Common Sense America First” policies, but has now decided to move the rallies to an online day of action instead.
According to Southern Poverty Law Center, a U.S.-based group that monitors hate crimes, since the founding of ACT, the group has “grown into far and away the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in America.”
ACT’s leader Brigitte Gabriel is known to have issued statements denouncing Islam and stating devout Muslims cannot be “loyal Americans.” A common thread that links the anti-Muslim hate group with other white supremacist groups is their collective vehement hatred for the Muslim community.
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In an interview with Breitbart News, the hate group described its members as “patriotic citizens whose only goal is to celebrate America’s values and peacefully express their views regarding national security.”
Earlier in June, ACT organized “March Against Shariah” events claiming the Sharia law will replace the U.S. Constitution. The rallies held across the U.S. were attended by several racist groups — including the two present in the violent Charlottesville rally — the “blood and soil” fascist group Vanguard America and the white nationalist Identity Evropa.
Referring to people in Boston as “terror groups” who shut down the rally of some 100 white supremacist in the city Saturday, the group said, “ACT for America is deeply saddened that in today’s divisive climate, citizens cannot peacefully express their opinion without risk of physical harm from terror groups domestic and international.”
In the wake of massive resistance to white supremacists in Charlottesville and then Boston, many mayors across the United States have denounced the organization, including the mayors of Milwaukee and Syracuse, where the city denied the America First Rally a permit.
Top photo: Counter-protestors stand behind a line of Seattle Police officers across the street from an anti-Islamic law protest rally, June 10, 2017, in Seattle. (AP/Ted S. Warren)
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