The white supremacist group that marched through Central City on Saturday night and the same organization believed to have destroyed George Floyd monuments across the United States, including a mural in the Olney district of Philadelphia.

According to various media reports, dozens of masked members of the Patriotic Front marched from Benjamin Franklin Park Avenue to the Old City. They held shields and chanted and waved flags. While they were loading vehicles along Columbus Avenue, they also clashed with a group of bystanders. For safety reasons, the police subsequently intercepted the group’s vehicle.

“They started contacting the citizens of Philadelphia, and they were not satisfied with what they said,” Philadelphia police officer Michael Cram (Michael Cram) Tell 6ABC“These men felt threatened. One time someone threw a smoke bomb to cover their retreat. They really fled the people of Philadelphia.”

The demonstration took place on the eve of July 4th celebrations in the city. The group, where Also marched in Washington On Saturday, activism seems to have increased in recent weeks.

In early June, a Freud mural North Philadelphia was painted white and covered with the name, website and slogan of the Patriot Front.Several other memorials commemorating the blacks killed by the police-including the statue of Floyd Brooklyn with Newark, New Jersey, with “Say Their Names” Mural In Louisville, Kentucky-was destroyed in a similar way late last month.

Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center classify the Patriot Front as a hate group. It evolved from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America after the “Unity Right” rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017.

At the rally, James Alex Fields Jr. (James Alex Fields Jr.) Drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, Killing of anti-racism demonstrator Heather HeyerFields stood side by side with the American Vanguard, holding a shield with the organization’s fascist logo, but the organization denied that he was a member. According to ADL.

Later, some members of the American Vanguard changed their names to the Patriot Front to make them mainstream, patriotic Americans and attract conservatives.The change is under the leadership Thomas Rousseau, who is Filmed in philadelphia on Saturday.

The Patriot Front did not use the image of Nazis, but turned to American aesthetics, but maintained a “firm white nationalism” ideology, According to SPLCThe organization’s manifesto calls for the formation of a white nation-state and explicitly seeks to exclude people of color.

The Patriot Front tried to open a new path for white nationalists, According to ProPublica, Which examined the origins of hate groups in a story in November 2019. The organization is committed to recruiting members “worried about a country occupied by immigrants and a world controlled by Jews.” It avoids talking about guns and violence online, but its strategy includes a mix of vandalism and intimidation aimed at creating anxiety.

SPLC stated that although many white nationalist groups have alienated mainstream politics after the “Unity Right” rally, the Patriot Front has succeeded with its brand.

“The Patriot Front is an organization obsessed with image. It restored the clear fascist agenda of the American vanguard with fancy patriotism,” SPLC said. “The Patriot Front focuses on drama rhetoric and activism, which can be easily distributed as a propaganda for its national chapters.”

According to ADL, the Texas-based Patriot Front tried to arouse local outrage through its activism. Previously, the organization had distributed racist and anti-Semitist flyers on college campuses across the country. The organization is known for printing its name on telephone poles and other public property.

This hate group also held flash mob events, such as the one in Philadelphia, where members demonstrated in blue polo shirts, khakis and masks. They often use smoke bombs, flares or flashlights.