Armed Antifa Groups March in Stone Mountain, Neo-Confederates Don’t Show

A heavily armed coalition of anti-racist and anti-fascist groups assembled Saturday to oppose a planned neo-confederate rally at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia.

The event dubbed “Rock Stone Mountain” had been planned for months and was expected to attract white nationalist activists, but was cancelled right before taking place. The antifa coalition, which donned the name FLOWER (“Frontline organizations working together to end racism”) stuck with their original plan to assemble outside the park.

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FLOWER’s coalition included communists, socialists, unions, left-wing militias, and other left-wing activists.

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{snip} The group had left-wing militia groups with long rifles and shotguns act as a roving perimeter around the demonstration.

The activists stopped at the Stone Mountain visitor center, where the demanded that authorities “sand blast Stone Mountain!” They then produced an effigy of a Ku Klux Klan member, complete with a swastika on its chest, which they lit on fire.

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After antifa finished their burning, police came and extinguished the remains. Other than that brief involvement, police mostly took a hands-off approach to the demonstration, declining to interfere or make arrests.

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Plenty of antifa were masked up, which is an arrestable offense in Georgia.

Police gave them room to march without obstruction.

I don’t like to speculate, but antifa being heavily armed may have been in their favor.

No need to wade into armed opponents for a petty mask charge. pic.twitter.com/dn1ZLc1Fy0

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) February 2, 2019