Planned via the encrypted app Telegram, these rallies marked the first significant organizing efforts by white supremacists since 2018.
The organizers boldly advertised the events as being capable of making ‘the whole world tremble’, as reported by NBC News. However, the reality appears to have been totally opposite.
In this footage, captured by news site Left Coast Right Watch, three marchers could be seen being chased away from the scene by large numbers of those who opposed their white supremacist views.
HELLO HABIBIS I AM I. HUNTINGTON BEACH TO SEE IF THE TELEGRAM NAZIS SHOW UP pic.twitter.com/rzb4K1AK1f
— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) April 11, 2021
Only a small counter protest is present at NYC White Lives Matter rally that was ment to be held outside Trump Tower at 1pm today pic.twitter.com/AiA4TchsXY
— @SCOOTERCASTER (FNTV) (@ScooterCasterNY) April 11, 2021
Philly pizza party picnic?
Check!
TastyKakes?
Check!
Philly White Lives Matter Nazis?
No shows.
This is what antifascism looks like. 🖤❤ https://t.co/javVNxhM5p pic.twitter.com/9uz8kLzfso
— Gwen Snyder is uncivil (@gwensnyderPHL) April 11, 2021
New Mexico In Depth reporter Bella Davis tweeted footage of a ‘couple hundred counter protesters’ gathering in Albuquerque ahead of a planned rally, carrying anti-fascist signs and chanting, ‘f*ck the Proud Boys’.
There’s a Proud Boys “white lives matter” rally planned to start in about half an hour in downtown abq. Couple hundred counter protesters out here pic.twitter.com/A2wCVLOKw6
— Bella Davis (@bladvs) April 11, 2021
The “White Lives Matter” rallies were disrupted in several cities after activists infiltrated their online groups and leaked internal chats to journalists. Mainstream online platforms where extremists were once welcomed have also tightened their policies about violent extremist content and groups.
“Not only have organized larger groups splintered, but so, too, did their social media footprint,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “Some extremists continued a whack-a-mole migration underground to encrypted, affinity-based platforms, while others exited these movements altogether.”