Hundreds of masked white supremacists descended on the nation’s capital, proudly waving Confederate flags during the 250th Independence Day celebration.
The demonstrators were seen wearing hats emblazoned with the logo for the Patriot Front — a white nationalist group founded by Thomas Rousseau after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
Counterprotester Heather Heyer was infamously killed at that rally when a madman plowed into her and several others.
Members of the group were snapped riding the DC Metro Saturday. In one shot, a black woman sitting on the train looks scared as all of the seats around her are occupied by the masked men.
The group chanted “Reclaim America,” as they marched from Washington, DC’s Union Station Saturday in a video posted on X by WTOP reporter Mitchell Miller.
Police were on the scene, and some National Guard members arrived in the area, Miller posted on X.
“The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was tracking First Amendment activities that occurred this morning in the Eastern Market neighborhood. MPD recognizes the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views and remains committed to maintaining public safety and security for DC residents and visitors,” Metro police told The Post in a statement.
The extremist group last swarmed Washington during the March for Life rally on Jan. 23, where they were seen carrying upside-down American flags, USA Today reported.
In June 2022, over 30 members, including Rousseau, were arrested in Idaho on charges of inciting a riot as part of their planned protest of a Gay Pride parade. They were ordered to pay black saxophonist Charles Murrell III $2.7 million after he was assaulted during their 2022 “flash” march in Boston.
The group also blanketed New York City with banners and flyers bearing its slogans in 2020.
The group calls for a “hard reset on the nation we see today – a return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers” and for America to be an ethnostate for white people, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Patriot Front is responsible for the “vast majority” of white supremacist propaganda disseminated in the United States, the Anti-Defamation League claimed.
