Donald Trump has come under fire for not forcefully rejecting white supremacists during his two terms as president.
Members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front organized marches around the US capital, many with their faces hidden behind white cloth masks and sunglasses.
On Saturday, a video circulated on social media showing a line of men wearing khaki pants, khaki baseball caps and dark blue shirts walking down escalators to the Washington, D.C., subway and boarding subway cars.
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They were then filmed marching rhythmically through areas such as New Carrollton, Maryland, which is part of the National Capital Region. Some people showed up in front of the National Diet Building.
Some marchers carried American flags, drums and shields. Some waved Confederate flags, which some associate with Southern identity while others see them as an expression of racist hatred. The Confederacy attempted to secede from the United States in 1861 to preserve slavery, which sparked the Civil War.
The demonstration coincided with Independence Day, the United States’ independence day. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a particularly poignant anniversary.
The Patriot Front’s Telegram channel indicated the group expects more than 400 white supremacists to attend Saturday’s event. Throughout the day, people reposted videos of marchers, some chanting “Take back America” to the beat of drums.
The group’s website appealed to people “born in this country as Europeans” to assert their “right to cultural independence.”
Experts in the extremism program at George Washington University describe Patriot Front as a fascist organization dedicated to “creating a white ethnic state in the United States.”
Critics have accused President Donald Trump’s administration of emboldening such groups, including by promoting false conspiracies such as the racist belief that white Christians are being replaced by minorities.
Experts say the Patriot Front was created in 2017 after the “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017.
The rally brought together white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia. One of the white supremacists, James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into the crowd and struck nearby counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Trump, then midway through his first term as president, responded to the incident by saying, “There were some very bad people in that group, but there were also very fine people on both sides.”
Critics have repeatedly accused Trump of not forcefully rejecting support from white supremacists.
For example, in 2022, President Trump dined with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago resort, both of whom have come under fire for anti-Semitic comments.
“We had dinner Tuesday night on our backyard patio with many members in attendance. The dinner was quick and uneventful,” President Trump wrote at the time.
Trump himself has faced multiple accusations of racism, including earlier this year when he posted a video depicting former Democratic President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
Sen. Ed Markey was among those calling on officials to condemn Saturday’s march.
“We cannot remain silent in the face of white supremacists marching on our Capitol. From Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., hate and bigotry have no place here,” Markey wrote on social media.
