Federal officials had no reason to stop a July 4 white supremacist rally in Washington because of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday.
The hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched in the nation’s capital on Saturday’s Independence Day did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s. State of the Union program.
Although the radical ideology of the organization is white, against immigrants “is not something I can agree with”, Burgum said, it is protected by freedom of expression, even if it “makes democracy a mess”.
Protesters on the National Mall in Washington who are critical of US President Donald Trump enjoy the same rights, “but they are allowed to continue because of freedom of speech in our country”, Burgum said.
Patriot Front itself has criticized democracy. A manifesto on the group’s website says “Democracy has failed this once famous nation” and “hard reset” is needed to “return to the traditions and virtues of our ancestors”, identifying them as European settlers.
Patriot Front members marched to drumbeats near the US Capitol and Union Station before taking Metro trains to the District of Columbia suburb.
