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- Far-right group Patriot Front clashed with anti-abortion demonstrators at a rally in Chicago.
- Videos show demonstrators calling the group an “embarassment” who are “hijacking a pro-life movement.”
- Patriot Front is a “white supremacist group” who espouse “racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance,” the ADL said.
Anti-abortion demonstrators confronted the far-right group Patriot Front members who wanted to attend a March for Life rally in Chicago on Saturday.
In videos posted on social media, the white supremacist group members can be seen at the march in their signature khaki pants, navy blue jackets, baseball caps, and face coverings.
Many also wore shin pads and carried shields.
“What are you carrying shields for? This is a peaceful demonstration,” one March for Life demonstrator shouted at the group.
—(C)hicago (F)ree (M)edia (@chifreemedia) January 8, 2022
“You guys are an embarrassment,” the demonstrator said.
Patriot Front members stood silently during the exchange while holding flags and a large banner that read, “strong families make strong nations.”
Another demonstrator can be seen shouting at the group for “hijacking a pro-life movement.”
—Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) January 8, 2022
According to leaked audio from a Patriot Front meeting in December, obtained by The Daily Dot, the group’s founder Thomas Rousseau told followers they had the support of people who attend events by the anti-abortion rights group March for Life.
Members of the group have attended several anti-abortion rallies in Chicago over the past three years, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
After the clash with demonstrators on Saturday, videos show Patriot Front members leaving in vehicles with taped-over license plates.
—Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) January 8, 2022
Patriot Front is a “white supremacist group whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it solely to them,” according to The Anti-Defamation League.
The group espouses “racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance under the guise of preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of their European ancestors,” the organization said.
The group broke off from the white nationalist group Vanguard America after a man linked to the latter killed a woman at the notorious “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Cassie Miller with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, told 6abc that Patriot Front is arguably “the leading white supremacist group in the country,” with 42 chapters across the United States.
The group is known for staging “flash” protests and torch demonstrations.
In December, more than a hundred members of Patriot Front marched in downtown Washington, DC, chanting “reclaim America.”
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