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        <title><![CDATA[Militias descend on Gettysburg over Antifa-rumored July 4th social media hoax]]></title>
        <atom:link href="https://usagag.com/2020/07/06/militias-descend-on-gettysburg-over-antifa-rumored-july-4th-social-media-hoax/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
        <link>https://usagag.com/2020/07/06/militias-descend-on-gettysburg-over-antifa-rumored-july-4th-social-media-hoax/</link>
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            <media:title type="html">Militias descend on Gettysburg over Antifa-rumored July 4th social media hoax</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Armed militias descended on Gettysburg on July 4 to protect the town from a flag-burning protest — that wound up being an apparent social media hoax, according to reports.</p><p>Hundreds of counterprotesters were drawn by a Facebook event Saturday that called for people to show up to the historic battlefield in Pennsylvania for a “peaceful flag burning to resist police,” <a href="https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/2020/07/02/gettysburg-july-4th-what-know-protest-and-antifa-rumors/5364197002/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Hanover Evening Sun reported</a>.</p><p>“Let’s get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue,” the Facebook page Left Behind USA wrote, according to the Washington Post.</p><p>Rumored to be organized by Antifa, the event was then shared on social media by various alt-right groups including militias, the Oath Keepers and confederate flag advocates.</p><p>They called on their members to help battle the Antifa protesters and protect the town.</p><p>“If you plan on coming, I would plan on coming full battle-rattle … to be fully, 100 percent prepared to defend yourself and whoever you come with,” Macky Marker, a member of a Delaware militia called First State Pathfinders, said in a YouTube video.</p><p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mIUq4OIAKUA" frameborder="0" width="600" height="315"></iframe><p>But the Antifa chapter for Central Pennsylvania denied the group had any involvement.</p><p>“It’s a right wing hoax like last time (in 2017),” the group wrote in an email, referring to when a hoax circulated about an Antifa plan to desecrate Civil War graves, according to the Evening Sun.</p><p>“We are not even remotely involved. Let them give each other COVID. We will be home with our families.”</p><p>The Washington Post was unable to verify the person purportedly behind the Left Behind USA account existed through official records.</p><p>By Saturday afternoon, the flag-burning event had not materialized at the historic site — but hundreds of bikers, militia members and others gathered outside the Gettysburg Cemetery, the newspaper reported.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter if it’s a hoax or not,” Christopher Blakeman, 45, told the outlet.</p><p>“They made a threat, and if we don’t make our voices heard, it’ll make it seem like it’s okay.”</p>]]></content:encoded>
                <dc:creator><![CDATA[GAGmen]]></dc:creator>
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