Repeal the Second Amendment

'Liberty or Death': rightwing protesters march against alleged leftwing violence in Seattle

More than 100 rightwing demonstrators marched with firearms through the streets of downtown Seattle on Saturday afternoon, in an event billed as a protest against an alleged tide of leftwing violence.

Many demonstrators at the “Liberty or Death” rally wore camouflage, body armor, helmets and insignia of the “Patriot Movement”. 

Many had handguns at their waists, large semi-automatic long guns strapped to their backs, or both.

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A counterprotest organised by a coalition of leftist and community groups drew at least double the crowd.

But it also contained demonstrators openly carrying firearms. 

Most were members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, a group named for a 19th-century antislavery campaigner which says it carries out “liberatory community defense”. 

It had around a dozen members at the rally.

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The rightwing event was co-organised by the Washington state Three Percenters, and the Vancouver, Washington-based rightwing protest group Patriot Prayer. 

The Three Percenters are a paramilitary organisation which, according to monitoring group Political Research Associates, “pledges armed resistance against attempts to restrict private gun ownership”. 

Members of other branches have been involved in confrontations with federal government agencies in Nevada, Oregon and Montana.

Patriot Prayer, led by Republican Senate candidate Joey Gibson, has staged street protests in liberal cities on the US west coast for more than a year. 

They have been especially active in Portland, Oregon. 

Two rallies the group held in that city June culminated in extensive street violence. 

One on 30 June was declared a riot by Portland Police Bureau (PPB).