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Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Organizers of a planned "Patriot Prayer" rally in California canceled the original event, but plan to hold a news conference instead. The Patriot Prayer Twitter account said the rally at San Francisco's Crissy Field Beach had been canceled "due to Government controlled campaign of lies, propaganda and fear mongering" and a news conference at Alamo Square Park is scheduled to be held in its place at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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Joey Gibson, the organizer and founder of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group that has previously hosted rallies attracting white nationalists, discussed the cancelation of the event during a Facebook Live broadcast, in which he said the rally would be "unsafe."
"After several conversations with the police and understanding the situation of what's going on we decided that tomorrow really seems like a set up -- it doesn't seem safe, a lot of people's lives are going to be in danger tomorrow," Gibson said.
San Francisco officials and police had been preparing the city for a potential swarm of rally attendees and counter-protesters -- particularly after the violent clash between counter-protesters and neo-Nazis, members of the Ku Klux Klan and white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va. earlier this month.
Last week, a crowd of at least 10,000 turned out in Boston to protest a planned rally that one organizer said was meant to back free speech. But local members of the Ku Klux Klan said they planned to attend and counter-protesters effectively shut down the rally before it could begin.
Patriot Prayer organizers said claims, including from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, that the event is a "white supremacist rally" created a hostile climate against the group.
A counter rally organized by the city's elected leaders was held at the Civic Center Plaza on Friday night, as Mayor Ed Lee denounced Patriot Prayer's presence.
"You all know that some people are coming in tomorrow to our city -- you know as well as I do that they have a message that we don't believe in, a message of hate," Lee said. "But San Francisco is a city of love and compassion, and we will always lead with love and compassion."
Gibson has said that he does not consider his group's members to be white supremacists and that the organization does not espouse racist views. Past Patriot Prayer rallies have led to violence with counter-demonstrators.
Gibson and Patriot Prayer were granted a special-event permit for the original rally but don't have one for the news conference, although he planned for the same same speakers and bands to be in attendance, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Gibson also plans to attend another unpermitted rally scheduled to take place in Berkeley on Sunday.
"Berkeley is a better situation because we don't feel like we are walking into a trap," he said.
Police Chief Bill Scott said commanders are required to gauge the threat of violence at events held without permits and can disband the event if they see fit.
"What oftentimes happens is, when we get there, we have to decide to allow it or shut it down," he said. "If there is no violence, and we don't need anything other than a police presence to facilitate safety, we will just do that. If it feels unsafe, unlawful or violent, that is when we will shut it down."
