San Francisco resident Tuffy Tuffington came up with a rather unique form of resistance to a planned rally of right-wing extremists at San Francisco’s popular Crissy Fields recreational area. Tuffington and a growing group of Bay Area residents (1,000+ have RSVP'd on Facebook) are laying a dog poo minefield for the are where the permit was issued to the “Patriot Prayer” group. From The Guardian:
Hundreds of San Franciscans plan to prepare Crissy Field, the picturesque beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge where rightwing protest group Patriot Prayer will gather, with a generous carpeting of excrement.
“I just had this image of alt-right people stomping around in the poop,” Tuffy Tuffington said of the epiphany he had while walking Bob and Chuck, his two Patterdale terriers, and trying to think of the best way to respond to rightwing extremists in the wake of Charlottesville. “It seemed like a little bit of civil disobedience where we didn’t have to engage with them face to face.”
Not to worry, the group is planning to return to the “poomitted” area on Sunday to clean up.
Organizer Joey Gibson received the permit over the objections of city officials. Joey Gibson’s “Patriot Prayer” group has been holding controversial rallies on the west coast that have sparked violence in the past. Gibson says they’ve turned over an new leaf. From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Joey Gibson's 'Patriot Prayer' has trolled the Northwest with a series of rallies designed to provoke violence and populated with extremists, but he says he's changed his approach.
A “Freedom Rally San Francisco” is planned Saturday on the city’s waterfront at Crissy Field Park, from 2-5 p.m., organized as “a day of freedom, spirituality, unity, peace, and patriotism” by a group called Patriot Prayer.
Patriot Prayer is an antigovernment “Patriot” group based originally in Vancouver, Washington, and now in Portland, Oregon, that has organized a series of protests in the Pacific Northwest that have all been held in places that are established centers of liberal/left politics, all with the clear intent of attempting to provoke a violent response from far-left antifascists.
Let’s hope this rally doesn’t turn to violence like many of Gibson’s previous rallies. Unlike permits elsewhere, Gibson’s Crissy Field permit has a strict no guns, ammunition, helmets or backpacks clause.