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Several different groups were represented at President Donald Trump’s rally and the protests and riots at the Capitol Building later in the day in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
Flags from the Three Percenters, Confederate flags and other emblems and slogans associated with other organizations were present throughout the day.
“It appears that it was mixed collection of individuals that included militant Trump supporters, election deniers, Liberate movement followers, Alt right, Nazis, neo-Confederates, conspiracists, Proud Boy supporters, Q Anon adherents, Second Amendment and insurrectionists, and groypers,” Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism Brian Levin told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The majority of flags carried by rally attendees, protesters, and rioters were in support of Trump. Several of the flags donned Trump’s popular slogan “make America great again” and many others said “Trump 2020.”
There were several flags displaying messages opposing President-Elect Joe Biden and his supporters.
A protester who self-identified as a member of the Proud Boys, an all-male organization, wore an “anti-Antifa” shirt, according to Getty. A sticker was put on a road sign that said “I [heart] my Proud Boys.”
The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, was banned from Washington, D.C. until his next court hearing scheduled for June, the DCNF reported. Tarrio was charged with stealing and destroying a Black Lives Matter banner from a church and for possessing two high-capacity firearm magazines.
Another member of the Proud Boys, known as “Big John/Jon,” was apprehended immediately after arriving in Washington for carrying an AR “upper” a witness told the DCNF. The witness said the firearm had been modified in a way that would not allow the gun to fire.
Several APIII flags, also known as the “American Patriots the III%,” were flown around Washington on Wednesday. The group describes itself as inclusive of all races and political affiliations and stresses a belief in the Constitution and “the freedoms and liberties our Founding Fathers intended,” according to their website.
APIII lists the group’s mission as uniting the “Silent Majority and Patriots” to “prepare for an uncertain future,” according to their website. APIII denies being a militia and says the group exercises its rights to share knowledge, practice the second amendment, and peacefully assemble.
A man wearing a khaki jacket embroidered with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers seal was seen slashing the tires of two government-owned SUV’s parked outside the east side of the Capitol. The Boilermakers are a union of industrial workers who represent over 50,000 people who work in shipbuilding, manufacturing, railroads, mining and similar industries, according to their website.
A Facebook page associated with the Chinese American Alliance For Trump doesn’t appear to have been active since December 2016, though the group was out with several identical banners Wednesday morning.
Several people were passing out “End CCP” brochures throughout the day and asking people to sign a petition to “eliminate the demon Chinese Communist Party.”
The brochures also said that “this pandemic could have been prevented if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not lie. Their cove-up has led to a global pandemic with hundreds of thousands of deaths and over 10 million confirmed.”
The same informational pamphlets were handed out during Trump’s Town Hall event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 16, the DCNF reported.
Several people carried Gadsden or “don’t tread on me” flags, which has recently been associated with gun rights, along with several other pro-firearm flags.
Several protesters carried Confederate flags, photographs show. One man mounted a statue of a horse near the Capitol Reflecting Pool while holding a Confederate flag for a picture.
At least one person was seen wearing a QAnon leather vest, a photograph shows. The conspiracy theory around QAnon alleges a group of Satanic pedophiles, with a high concentration of Democratic figures, attempt to undermine Trump through a “deep state,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Chinese American Alliance For Trump nor the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers responded to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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