NOLA: Anti-Immigration March Resistance Report back

New Orleans, Louisiana – Not to be outdone by the northern racists, southern Confederates organized a “March Against Sharia/Anti-Immigration March” in New Orleans on July 29th, 2017. Most major cities afflicted with these rallies had them scheduled in June, but fash who come to the Big Sleazy are pretty slow at…. well….. everything. Below, we provide a detailed report back of the preparation for the protest of this rally, the fascists associated with this march, the police response, and the aftermath of the action.

Planning For a Counter Event: New Orleans Style

Planning for your city being infiltrated by out of town racists can entail many things. Diversity of tactics is crucial, especially somewhere so oppressed by the law that nearly everything seen as resistance is cause for arrest. We caught wind of an “Anti-Sharia / Anti-Sanctuary City” march being planned for July 29th and we had about a month to prepare. In that time we liberated a billboard sized vinyl for banners, made glitter bombs, acquired a glitter cannon, wheatpasted the city many times over, and built parade floats able to unfold and double as practical barricades. The majority of people protesting or countering these actions are liberals who love police and are not so different from the bootlickers we’re opposing. This makes it hard to operate from within the cover of our community without being identified and turned over to police. So here’s some sneaky things you can still do in a city under close watch (with a little New Orleans flair).

Wheatpasting:

We had several local artists who support the cause making new art both in solidarity for the community and specifically for this event. This art includes several Pistons in solidarity with immigrants and the Muslim community, an invitation to the counter event that went out a few days before the 29th, and a few others to round things out. Art is an especially important way to reach out to your community and support without using “violence”. Folks who have anxiety or can’t afford to be front-facing due to work/life situations can make art for the cause and stay anonymous. We knew the route of the “Patriot March,” so we hit every building possible with as many positive messages to remind the community we do not stand for hate. This started a few weeks before the event, escalating to nightly work in the days before the 29th. It is important to plan ahead, as the Fash often stakes out their safe space in advance. We pasted the French Quarter with hundreds of posters, but did so two nights early, preventing the enemy from spotting us.

Above:  Wheatpasting of signs indicating refugees are welcome in NOLA.

Banners:

With our liberated vinyl, we managed to cut out enough to make 2 large and 8 small banners. We got 1 large banner dropped the night before on a large hospital parking lot facing the interstate reading “NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL.”

Above:  Banner drop in solidarity with refugees and Muslims in NOLA

We created many medium sized banners which we planned to hang along the route, but decided on scene to have people hold. It is important to be flexible and constantly reevaluate your environment and situation while in the field. Even the best laid plans must sometimes be abandoned, and hanging a few banners is not worth endangering the freedom of your comrades. Our final banner was reinforced and used as our main marching banner/protective barrier on the day. It came in extremely handy and we will be implementing this as basic praxis in the future. Our reinforced banner was made with a large piece of vinyl, although any fabric would do, and was reinforced with an 8-10 ft long 2” x 2” wood frame so as to use the banner as a physical barrier between us and the Fash (a bannercade, if you will). This had four metal handles (the kind you’d put on a cabinet door) for distribution of weight as well as making it much easier to walk with and several wooden pistol-grips. You can easily roll these kinds of banners up to look like any old banner and once 3-4 people are manning it, it really will stop the weight of several cops and Fash rushing you. Defense is important, especially if there are smaller, younger, or newer comrades out in the streets with you.

Barricades:

We knew that, at some point, we would be at a standoff with fascists, either at the beginning or end of their march. While we created defensive banners, another leftist group decided to build barricades. In a city where any sort of opposition is a crime, how could we blend into the city while still protecting ourselves? This group took three shopping carts, easy to maneuver and move down the street (and technically allowed in New Orleans), and transformed them into tall, fortified carts that technically fell under the category of float. These carts were decorated with butterflies and banners that read “For a world without borders.” They were pushed up the street with a large group, which made for a beautifully dramatic entrance, and were then strategically placed in the street to claim our space and protect the crowd from the threat of violence across the street. It is important to note that these were built with the intent to abandon if needed- never get too attached to the things you create, no matter how brilliant and gorgeous they are.

Masks:

Unlike most places around the country, we are not allowed to mask or employ the Black Bloc kinetic strategy in New Orleans. Doing so will end with your immediate arrest (but only if you’re on the Left), so we often have to risk doxxing to attend events such as these. A law originally created to protect the people against The Klan, it has now been twisted to prevent people from protesting. But alas, a loophole exists. We celebrate Mardi Gras here in our lovely city, and party masks are allowed (albeit selectively). The brilliant creators of the butterfly carts also created many butterfly masks, which they handed out to any attendee who needed to protect their identity. Created from cheap elastic, foam, and other craft store items, the doxxing of many people was prevented through a little ingenuity.

Glitter:

We have heard time and time again from Liberal POC in our community that “anarchist violence” aka window breaking, cop car smashing, etc. makes them feel unsafe. For the actual face to face event we had originally planned to glitter bomb these racist idiots because, knowing their machismo, being sparkly is embarrassing. This seemed safe, legal, and generally not offensive enough to further divide the left. We were wrong. Upon the arrival of police, the vibe quickly changed and the glitter cannon would have absolutely been considered a weapon and was abandoned. We look forward to finding other uses for it in the future. Instead, one comrade opened one of our many pre-packed 4oz bags of glitter and when a Nazi finally made his move to charge her and her partner, she threw it in his face, temporarily blinding him and stunning him away. Unfortunately, a journalist was hit with the glitter as well and took deep offense. While we had originally view this as a fun and very New Orleans of handling hate, and even though it is so satisfying to see the pictures of glittery fascists (one has since taken to Facebook to share his dismay at being called “glitter” by his colleagues), we have learned our lesson. The moral here: liberals will never accept any direct action no matter how safe it is (but “patriots” hate glitter). If you choose to follow in our footsteps, have better aim.

Megaphones and Music:

Originally our group had planned to have bands come out and participate, but this operation was co-opted by liberals and subsequently organized by them instead. Still, a few musicians did show up and wonderfully drowned out the hate in true New Orleans style. Chants and songs were led by a few very loud comrades on megaphones, which were purchased rather cheaply (and decorated with IGD stickers). Knowing the police like to take away our things, we didn’t spend tons of money on noise. Instead, a creative comrade fashioned noisemakers made of simple 1ft wood squares (2”x 2” wood cut to fit and secured with 1 5/8” screws) and covered them in clear packing tape (wrapping it around the entire frame in one direction, then perpendicular to this direction for a second layer). These homemade drums were loud as hell and also effective as face shields. They cost about $2 each (or cheaper if you can salvage the wood) and can be made very quickly.

Above:  We had an incredibly gangster brass band with us.  Just ask the NOPD.

Flyers:

Since this event was planned for the French Quarter, we knew that there would be an audience of spectators. We were right, hundreds of tourists and locals witnessed the march and our opposition to it. Thinking ahead, we created simple flyers that began with “PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE RACISTS IN THE SQUARE: The people yelling hate are not from New Orleans. Most of them are not even from Louisiana. They are con-artists, Nazis, and Nazi-sympathizers.” This message was also blasted through a megaphone to crowds along the route. The flyers then went on to directly discuss the Fash organizing the event, taking away their credibility, and reminded onlookers of the value of immigrants and Muslims to our city and country. We printed them 4 to a page, making it easy for people to stash in their pockets and easier for us to print. We handed stacks to everyone who attended the counter event, hitting maximum outreach to the community.

Above:  Flyers were distributed to the community to let them know that our community does not support the Anti-Sharia march.

The Racists:

It was an all star cast with Billy Farmer, a self proclaimed “infidel” and organizer of the event, as well as Andrew “Black Rebel” Duncomb, a man well known to activists for beating and macing female protesters, who crowdfunds his existence as a person of color lending credibility to the confederate movement. 

Above:  Andrew Duncomb the “Black Rebel” and various neo-confederates and other racists who arrived in NOLA for the “Anti-Sharia March.”

Andrew isn’t the only token POC these Alt-Right wingnuts have dug up. Among their ranks, they also count Andres Parra, a self-proclaimed “SPANISH PERSON” hailing from Neiva, Colombia whose social media account indicates he is a member of the III% Militia “fighting for America” and for “Southern history”.

Above: Andres Parra explains why these fascists can’t be racist, because they allow him in their group.

A contingent of about 30 confederates presented in front of the Old U.S. Mint. Represented were confederates, III% Militia, Oathkeepers, Based Stickmen and a lonely Kekistani in a motorcycle helmet complete with jumbo-sized googly eyes in an apparent homage to Pepe the frog.

Above: Police form a protective circle around racists including a lone Kekistani.

One protester noted an InfoWars hat among the group of Anti-Sharia marchers and cheered with mock delight, “WE GOT INFOWARS UP IN THE HOUSE!!!! TURN THE FRICKIN’ FROGS GAY!”  Several of these unfortunate folks were bedecked in urban camouflage, body armor, and all manner of confederate accoutrements.  Carrying a multitude of flags including American, III% militia, Don’t Tread on Me, Trump,  and Kek, these sad historical revisionists mustered less folks than an Applebee’s happy hour draws, to come to our fair city and protest the non-existent threat of Sharia law.  Their official plan was to march through the busiest tourist thoroughfares in NOLA and ultimately end at Jackson Square to deliver a speech rallying folks against the Muslim community.

As anarchists and antifascists, we set out to obfuscate their goals through direct action.  This included diverse strategies including (but not limited to):

1) drowning out their speech through the use of music, chants, and noisemakers

2) impeding their movement using our crowd, bannercades, and floats

3) countering their rally by handing out literature, hanging flyers and banners, and performing community outreach

4) public shaming of these folks

Because the crowd of Anti-Sharia marchers is largely comprised of self-identified “Southern Males” bedecked in camouflage or mock-military/law enforcement gear, we reckoned these guys would experience some anxiety if we glitterbombed the place.  To that end, we doused glitter like perverse confetti into the crowd, hitting both Leftists and right wing folks.  Anarchists and antifascists are naturally immune to the injury caused by glitter, which only has the capacity to harm you if you have really, REALLY fragile masculinity.  Take heed, dear readers: Confederate assholes get BIG MAD when you glitter them, AND IT IS SUPREMELY AWESOME.

Above: Darrel Nelson displays his sparkly frustration with counter-protesters. Shortly after the march he posted a sad boy FB video about how his fellow confederates now call him “Glitter.”

It is important to note that physical assaults did occur at this event, but (aside from glitter) were instigated by the right-wing adherents, who enjoy deploying mace and pepper spray on folks (usually femme activists), but only from a distance or when they can catch us from behind.  This is largely due to the fact that, even though these folks are clad in baseball helmets, body armor, and carrying a veritable utility belt of weapons, they are cowards who are too terrified to actually engage in a face-to-face physical confrontation. It is salient to note that the NOPD confine Leftists to one area, cordoning off a “safe space” for the fascists, but allow the right wing protesters to pass through this barrier and menace the musicians and protestors without repercussion.

Above: Anti-Sharia marchers menace musicians performing behind the Leftist rally facing off against Right-wing protesters.

Additionally, NOPD freely allow these folks to deploy chemical weapons on our group with impunity, and NOPD also brutalized gender-nonconforming anarchists and even an innocent bystander riding through the streets on a bicycle.  These topics are explored further in our section below on the police.

The Police:

While fighting against hate and fascism in the heart of Mid-City, Leftists, protestors, and neighborhood citizens alike had to guard themselves against not only the fascist enemy, but the NOPD. Useless on a good day, when 911 response times literally average an hour and instead of being connected with a dispatcher you instead must wait for a return call (yes, a call BACK from 911), the NOPD set themselves an entirely new standard in May. These neo-confederates and confederate sympathizers repeatedly parked their trucks illegally in places where local residents would have received boots, tows, or tickets.

They slept in a park where the homeless are routinely throw out, and urinated in public in areas with families, which have earned others statuses as sex offenders. Even worse, they carried multiple weapons, including loaded AK-47s, 24 hours a day, within 1,000 of a school and a playground, a clear violation of the law. Despite hundreds of calls from concerned parents and citizens, NOPD did nothing, not even when these cowards began brandishing their weapons, holding their fingers on the triggers and reminding innocent folks that they were loaded and ready to stand their ground. When a female protester was shoved from the monument and into an iron fence about four feet below, NOPD witnessed the event in full view. When she was maced by Andrew Duncomb as she attempted to stand back up, they did nothing.

When comrades helped her over the fence and street medics attempted to dig the contacts out of her eyes while she shouted that she couldn’t breathe…well, I’m sure you can guess what they did next…nothing. As this was happening, fights broke loose, and the Fash attacked several protesters with flag poles. NOPD stood watch. Then one of the protestors witnessed a neo-Confederate break out two cans of roach spray, fingers on the nozzle, and threaten to blind people. That protester went to the police to ask them to step in. Do you think that this was the moment NOPD chose to take action to protect people? No. Instead, they arrested the concerned protestor and charged them with public intoxication, repeatedly denied their requests for a breathalyzer, and put them in jail for 8 hours before being bailed out. It cost that concerned protester hundreds of dollars, not including missed wages, to fight the charge and have it dismissed.

To make matters worse, the woman who was assaulted was repeatedly denied the ability to file an assault report. Once well enough to see and walk again, she demanded action from the police and was told that she was not allowed to file a report until she was cleared on scene by EMS (this is not true). They said they would call EMS, but no one showed up until a comrade called a short time later. Once cleared, she was still denied the report. By morning, when she called the District 1 Police Station, she was told a report had already been filed and that there was no need to pursue anything else (this was also not true). Upon arriving to District 1 in person, she was told that she would need to wait for over an hour to speak to an officer. After waiting, the same officer who had been sitting at the front desk the entire time handed her a form to fill out, then proceeded to remind her 4 separate times that she did not need to include any details, only a rough summary. When asked for a description of her assaulter, she gave the officer a photo and was told that they did not need it. Obviously nothing came of this report, and not only was the perpetrator allowed to leave the city, but returned again on July 29th, when he assaulted multiple protestors.

To reinforce the NOPD’s lack of action and care for the citizens of their city, let me give you another example. A separate woman was sexually harassed and filmed by a III%er named Rickey Entwisle, who likes to pretend that he is a law enforcement officer and literally carries handcuffs on him. Rickey told her that he was going to cuff her and take her in. She immediately reported this to NOPD officers in a nearby vehicle, politely sharing her dismay that either this man was impersonating an officer (a serious crime) or that an NOPD officer was sexually harassing and threatening civilians practicing their constitutional right to protest. The officers then rolled up their window, put on their lights, and turned the corner. Several other police cars followed them. They never came back.

Above: Ricky Entwisle (Left), an Anti-Sharia march attendee who frequently impersonates law enforcement to intimidate anarchists, Leftists and liberals.

Beginning with a few cop cars during the first days of the monument stand-off, things quickly progressed to more than 8 cars and police in riot gear by May 1st. Stationed around the clock, overtime pay information has yet to be disclosed to the taxpaying citizens of New Orleans. Police were watching everyone’s moves, but miraculously only stepped in when it became clear that the confederates were in over their heads and wanted out. Unfortunately for them, they had illegally parked their vehicles in front of the monument, which were now surrounded by their opposition. As the scene on May Day came to a close, a team of riot police forcefully moved protesters out of the way, shouting and shoving to clear space for the confederates. These fascist disgraces were then led, with officers flanking both sides for safety, to their illegally parked cars and allowed to drive away (whenever their tires weren’t unfortunately punctured by New Orleans potholes). And there you have it folks, the great NOPD protecting racists (even shaking their hands) over their own citizens.

Now, one could argue that this is new territory for the NOPD. While they’re used to festivals, parades, and second line marches, opposition in the street is relatively new to this generation of officers. Perhaps they were caught off guard, it was a fluke. Well, I give you the Anti-Sharia Law/ Anti-Sanctuary City March of July 29th. With the liberals and Fash alike reporting hundreds of tips to NOPD, FBI, and Homeland Security, there were a few weeks for NOPD to prepare. We gathered early that day. There were no sign of the cops while the Fash gathered, only when we met them in the street. Much like our experience at Jefferson Davis, NOPD was useless.

Instead of guns, which the Fash knew they couldn’t carry in the French Quarter, many openly carried knives strapped to their hips, sometimes reaching down to their knees. Despite being a clear violation of the law, NOPD allowed these weapon-strapped racists to threaten us, hands on their knives. Andrew Duncomb, uncharged despite multiple assault allegations, was allowed to return. This time, he maced several people, including a black photographer who was not on any side. Andrew had to run across the street to do so, in clear view of the NOPD. Again, they did nothing, not against the assaulter or to help those injured. Thankfully a team of street medics was present to sort things out. Later, one man who has been heavily maced confronted several police officers about their behavior, yelling “Why didn’t you do anything?!” Officers did not respond at all except to comfort one another that they did nothing wrong.

Above: NOPD form a protective circle around the racist Anti-Sharia marchers.

A short time later, in view of hundreds of protesters and tourists in the French Quarter, police arrested a young man. When he tried to run, a sea of liberals parted and allowed two officers to grab him from either side. Ripping his shirt in two, Officer B. Williams Sr. then slammed him into a parked car face-first, a frightening scene bringing to memory Trump’s recent comments encouraging officers to be “rough” with their suspects. As this was happening, a young woman observing the protest was walking her bicycle behind officers to follow the crowd. Officer B. Williams turned and openly shoved to the ground, where she landed heavily on her now damaged bicycle. It was only when the woman cowered in the street, having a panic attack, that another officer offered to call EMS. “You’ve done enough,” said one protester. “We have our own trained medics,” said another, as several people had formed a wall between the crying woman and the officers attempting to stand over her. These are just two examples of the unnecessary brutality of the NOPD.

At the end of the event, when police began to surround protestors and show signs of kettling, protestors gathered themselves together, protected by a brass band in front and a large, defensive banner in back. Walking down Frenchman Street, we were followed by several of the most openly violent Fash. After two blocks of attempting to leave peacefully, we stopped and stood our ground. The Fash were allowed enough time to come up to our group, threaten, and try to incite us before police finally showed up. A convenient time lapse just long enough for us to begin a street fight that would end in mass arrests. Despite our restraint to wait until the first punch was thrown, police continued to circle and watch protestors as they dispersed.

Above: NOPD Street Gang UNIT keep a watchful eye on the brass band.  Because nothing screams “Gang Activity” like a trombone.

It is important to note that this time it wasn’t the riot police that came out to fight the left, but the street gang unit. While the Fash clearly misunderstand the idea of Antifa and literally label anyone who opposes them as such, the police seem to be eating up the information fed to them by these racists. Given weeks of planning, NOPD is now treating what they consider “Antifa” as a street gang, something that should alarm us all. After the first protester was arrested, one NOPD officer tried to clarify with those standing nearby, saying “You’re Antifa, right? That’s what you call yourselves?” and then stated that he recognized folks from the monument demonstrations. It is frightening that the NOPD has begun to treat all New Orleans opposition and protests as one group. It appears that they are beginning to believe the bullshit rhetoric the alt-right fascists are feeding them.

Unlike most metropolitan police forces, who are usually concerned with public perception of police-citizen interactions, the NOPD are remarkably unburdened with any restraint or impetus to curry public favor. Rather, they consistently brutalize protestors and bystanders alike with impunity, free from any threat of consequence leveraged by local officials. This lack of oversight may seem to be liberating to local police, but it is short-sighted. Their heavy handed treatment of citizens and visitors will almost certainly have economic and social ramifications in the days to come.

With hundreds of witnesses in the midst of the French Quarter, beloved tourist destination of the Big Easy, we hope that the people of America will begin to wake up to the brutality and bias of not just the NOPD, but the Police State everywhere. Police are protecting bootlicking fascists over their own citizens, and it must stop.

The Aftermath:

Grossly outnumbered, the fascists were unable to complete their march and the rally speech at Jackson square never happened.  NOPD began a kettling strategy and the legal observer advised us to leave.  We marched about two blocks away, only to have the confederates follow us and attempt to menace us on our own streets.  We invited them to come on down for a good old-fashioned Louisiana ass-whoopin’, but they declined our offer and scampered off to find that, yet again, New Orleans infrastructure had failed them.  The tires on their vehicles had clearly been slashed by potholes at some point during their ill-advised journey to stir up shit in our town.  We know it’s expensive to repair this kind of damage (tires ain’t cheap y’all!), and they should probably factor that into their travel costs if they are inclined to ever come back and threaten our communities again.

After tucking tail and leaving our fair city, video and images emerged of the racists burning a black flag with a circle A emblem on it.  This was one of the decorations on the abandoned breakfast cart/floats, and the confederates seemed pleased as punch to have discovered this discarded item.  In response, our group penned the following letter:

Dear Racist, Sexist Xenophobes:

We saw that you managed to “capture” a black flag with a circle-A on it. Such a shame! Oh – except that we left it, abandoned, without a care for whatever might become of it. You see, to us symbols are often meaningless – and even more often, destructive or just plain petty. Thus, it’s all too easy for us to momentarily loft mere symbols in the pursuit of making hateful bootlickers like you feel unwelcome in our city. You didn’t even obtain an “Antifa” symbol, as you keep claiming. It’s actually a symbol for anarchy. Flags are even less important to anarchists- no gods, no masters and all that. Well, in addition to finding some discarded trash, you had to go and burn it. Can you imagine how we felt watching you burn that flag? Can you?

All we can say is – WELCOME TO THE CLUB! No one can agree with you more than we can that flags should be disposed of properly. Unfortunately, though, we have to give the actual burning a 2/10, with a point for at least having multiple people present. Had you not found it abandoned on the street you could have made up a little ground in the ratings, but honestly the execution was weak tea, bad gumbo, or, as your glorious leader would say, SAD.

Yet truth be told, we were somehow inspired by your meager showing. It brought us back to fondest memories of how last month began: a good, ol’-fashioned Fourth-of-July cookout. Instead of food, however, we roasted symbols into ashes.

https://twitter.com/TheRedAdventure/status/892846995983003649

Cowards’ symbols – symbols of white supremacy, of capitalist imperialism, of patriarchy, of bootlicking bullshit. Your symbols. And the main course? The biggest loser flag of them all. Unlike the flag you burned, though, this one was taken out of your hands. We share this with you now so that you can hopefully learn and make a better showing of yourselves the next time you want to burn flags you find on the ground. But congrats anyway – keep burning flags! Maybe we do have more in common than we thought.

In conclusion, the resistance to this anti-Sharia march used a diversity of tactics including engaging colleagues, comrades, and co-conspirators to stop the spread of fascism in our city.

Your fellow flag-burning patriots,
New Orleans Leftist Action
Flag-burning Branch