Members of the right-wing group Patriot Front march across Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Members of the right-wing group Patriot Front march across Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/Getty Images
  • Patriot Front members believe that their ancestors conquered America.
  • More than a hundred members of the group staged a rally in Washington DC on Saturday to "reclaim America."
  • Bystanders booed as their leader Thomas Rousseau gave a speech, reports say.

More than a hundred members of a white supremacist group marched in downtown Washington, DC on Saturday evening while chanting "reclaim America," reports say. 

Videos show members of Patriot Front outside the Lincoln Memorial wearing matching outfits of khaki pants, dark blue jackets, and baseball caps.

 

Some carried flags, shields, and photographs show one banner reading "victory or death."

Their faces were obscured mainly by sunglasses and white coverings around their noses and mouths.

Members of the rightwing group Patriot Front march along the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Members of the rightwing group Patriot Front march along the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/Getty Images

The group's leader Thomas Rousseau gave a speech near the Capitol reflecting pool while bystanders booed, The Daily Beast said.

"Our demonstrations are an exhibition of our unified capability to organize, to show our strength," Rousseau said, according to the outlet.

"Not as brawlers or public nuisances, but as men capable of illustrating a message and seeking an America that more closely resembles the interests of its true people."

Members of the rightwing group Patriot Front march across Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Members of the rightwing group Patriot Front march across Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on December 04, 2021 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/Getty Images

On Saturday, police closely monitored the scene in case of violence, but the march ended without incident, The Daily Beast reported.

At the end of the protest, two dozen members were stranded as all could not fit in a U-Haul van rented to transport them to and from the rally, The Daily Beast said.

Many waited by the side of the road for hours as the vehicle made several trips, the outlet said. 

 

According to The Anti-Defamation League, Patriot Front members believe that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it.

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.

Patriot Front broke off from the white nationalist group Vanguard America after the group murdered 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.

Read the original article on Business Insider