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Organizers appear to have cancelled SF "press conference" today, but urge going to Berkeley tomorrow

Janis Mara (BCN)
Saturday August 26, 2017 - 10:02:00 AM

A press conference scheduled for Alamo Square Park in San Francisco today appears to have been called off by organizers who planned the conference after canceling a Patriot Prayer rally at Crissy Field.

Joey Gibson, whose Facebook profile indicates that he manages Patriot Prayer, posted on Facebook around 9 a.m., "So they closed down Alamo Center Park. I appologize [sic] for everyone that spent money and plane tickets to come down here. Stay tuned."

By saying, "Stay tuned," Gibson appeared to be leaving the door open to Patriot Prayer actions elsewhere today.

Reached by telephone, Ansen Hatcher, who described himself as a former organizer of the Patriot Prayer rally, said, "The event is no longer being held. The Alamo Square press conference is cancelled due to it being blocked off by police today."

"The only event I see happening now is the event in Berkeley, but Amber has asked everyone not to come. Everyone knows the event is still going on. There's nothing stopping people from going to the park and walking around," Hatcher said.

He was referring to a rally by a group who calls themselves No To Marxism in America scheduled for Berkeley on Sunday. "Amber" is Amber Cummings, the main organizer of that event. 

The National Park Service late Friday night confirmed organizers associated with the Patriot Prayer rally that was scheduled for today at 2 p.m. in San Francisco's Crissy Field relinquished the First Amendment permit for the organization's rally. 

Gibson cited concerns for public safety in a video livecast on social media around 3 p.m. on Friday. Several of Gibson's associates called on San Francisco's elected officials to protect them during a news conference they said planned to hold today at 2 p.m. at Alamo Square park. Now, the group appears to be changing course again. After Gibson's announcement of the press conference on Friday, "Today the right-wing extremist group Patriot Prayer--with a history of violent rallies--showed its true colors by canceling, at the last minute, its permitted rally at Crissy Field and scheduling an illegal un-permitted rally at Alamo Square," state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement Friday. "This rally in Alamo Square is illegal and in the heart of a residential neighborhood, and I am deeply concerned it will lead to violence, particularly given how close Alamo Square is to the counter-protest at Civic Center. As a matter of public safety, it cannot be allowed to happen," Wiener said. 

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CONTACT: National Park Service (415) 786-8021 www.facebook.com/PatriotPrayerUSA or "HOTFLASK BLUEFLAME" ansenhatcherusmc@gmail.com OR CARF (415) 864-1278 OR bafsp@earthlink.net Jeff Cretan for Sen. Wiener, (415) 308-6782, jeff.cretan@sen.ca.gov 

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