Providence Freedom Rally

white supremacists on the right stand protected by RI police while peaceful counter protesters assemble a few feet away

Event Date: October 6, 2018

Organized by: Resist Marxism

Organizations Present:

White Supremacists/Fascists Present:

Key Takeaways/Facts:

  • While at the time, this rally was largely ignored outside of local and antifascist circles, six days later, a Proud Boy mob attacked people outside of an NYC event at the Metropolitan Republican Club featuring Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes. That attack got a tremendous amount of press and multiple Proud Boys have been sentenced to prison for it. Max Hare, a Proud Boy who was filmed attacking people at the Providence rally as part of the “security” squad, was identified by antifascist Twitter account AntiFashGordon as having attacked people in Providence and as a threat to public safety at the NYC event, a few hours before the NYC attack. In video footage, Max Hare was shown to have initiated the NYC attack, and is one of the Proud Boys who was sent to prison for it.
  • Resist Marxism planned two actions in Providence, possibly due to increasingly negative media response – and increasingly larger and more-organized counter-protests – in Boston. RM invited fascist, misogynist, and Christian supremacist/Western chauvinist organizations such as Patriot Prayer and its founder, Joey Gibson, as well as “Tiny” Toese of the Proud Boys.
  • “Tiny” Toese and the Proud Boys, ostensibly acting as “security,” confronted counter-protesters on the counter-protest side of barricades, and initiated a brawl where one counter-protester suffered a concussion and seizure, and many counter-protesters sustained minor injuries.
  • RI State Police in riot gear declared the rally an unlawful assembly and ordered all attendees to disperse.

Impact:

  • Resist Marxism temporarily left Providence and refocused on Boston, with its next attempt at a Providence rally being the planned April 6, 2019, rally that imploded before it happened. Their next few events were smaller. However, the Proud-Boy-initiated brawl made Proud Boy and American Guard brawlers excited to return, before the April 6, 2019 rally imploded.
  • RM organizers would eventually rebrand as Super Happy Fun America in the spring of 2019 to start planning the Straight Pride Parade.

Media Coverage:

Social Media Coverage