WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2019) Tensions ran high in Washington on Saturday when protesters from the far right and left collided over their conflicting visions of free speech and media, but heavy police presence kept clashes to a minimum.
No more than 300 of President Donald Trump's most loyal supporters braced the sweltering heat and gathered for the "Demand Free Speech" rally at Washington's Freedom Plaza, just a few blocks from the White House, a Sputnik correspondent said.
Protesters and speakers at the rally called on social media and other large tech companies to stop their alleged censorship of conservative views.
"Our rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution are being systematically violated. Join the rally to demand unbiased social media, and an end to censorship," protest organizers said on their website.
Signs at the event also took aim at journalists and the media, with one declaring: "End the Bolshevik Media Monopoly."
While the event has been billed as a promotion of free speech, speakers at the rally included several well-known far-right personalities, including Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer. Roger Stone, a longtime Trump associate who remains under a gag order, was also scheduled to speak at the rally but did not appear during the event.
Only a stone's throw from the "Demand Free Speech" rally, a counter protest organized by "All Out DC" took place at Pershing Square. Under the headline "Stop the Altright," the organization accused the free-speech rally of promoting racism, fascism and white supremacy.
Demonstrators at the event held up signs including "Go Home Nazis," "United and Fight against Racism" and "Fascism Serves the 1%."
While attracting a slightly larger crowd than the free-speech event, the left-wing rally also included only a few hundred participants.
Despite the tensions on both sides, police only had to break up a few scuffles between the protestors. The biggest threat came from masked protesters on the radical left's Antifa movement. A group of some 50 black-clothed Antifa protesters unsuccessfully tried to rush police barricades in an attempt to enter the far-right event.
Video on social media also showed Antifa protesters destroying newspaper stands and throwing them into the streets.
The last time protesters from the right and left collided in the nation's capital was during the Unite the Right 2 rally last August.
