Heavily-armed militias flock to Gettysburg to stop July 4 antifa flag-burning protest – that was an internet hoax
MILITIAMEN flocked to Gettysburg on the Fourth of July to protect it from flag-burners — which reportedly ended up being a giant hoax.
Hundreds of armed members of militias gathered at Gettysburg National Military Park in after a event called for people to attend a “peaceful flag burning to resist .”
According to , a Facebook page called Left Behind USA called for the protest to take place on Saturday.
The event page was public until June 25, and reportedly called for supporters to “protest police violence against unarmed Black civilians.”
The post also apparently said that during the protest, the American flag, , and would be burned.
Among those who shared the event online linked the so-called protest to members of antifa, short for “anti-fascists.”
Facebook users who shared the post called for rightwing groups, including militias, to protect the area during the protest.
Macky Marker, a member of a militia called First State Pathfinders, posted a YouTube video urging armed counter-protesters to go to Gettysburg, .
“If you plan on coming, I would plan on coming full battle-rattle … to be fully, 100 percent prepared to defend yourself and whoever you come with,” Marker said.
But local antifa members said what happened was a “rightwing hoax like last time (in 2017.)"
"For whatever reason, they like to stir each other up for no reason. Everyone is looking for a war I guess. Last time, they shot themselves. Hopefully that happens again,” the group wrote to the Herald Evening Sun on July 1.
“We are not even remotely involved. Let them give each other . We will be home with our families.”
On Saturday, a flag-burning protest was nowhere to be scene.
Hundred of militiamen and bikers, however, gathered outside Gettysburg Cemetery to push back against what they believed would be such an event.
One man, who said he felt compelled to join the bikers, told the Post: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a hoax or not.”
“They made a threat, and if we don’t make our voices heard, it’ll make it seem like it’s okay,” Christopher Blakeman said.
At some point during the afternoon, a biker received a call and said he had been told someone was going to burn a flag in the cemetery.
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Per the Post, the militiamen saw a man in a shirt, but the man said he was just visiting a dead relative, and was confronted by a crowd of around 50 people.
“I didn’t do anything to them,” Trent Somes said.
When police arrived at the scene, Somes was told to leave “for his own safety” and was escorted from the cemetery.