When a rightwing rally kicks off at Crissy Field in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, far-right protesters with the group Patriot Prayer will likely be greeted with piles of dog poop.
Although counterprotest events will be held throughout the city this weekend, Tuffy Tuffington, who launched the Facebook event "Leave your dog poop on Crissy Field," told the Guardian: "It seemed like a little bit of civil disobedience where we didn't have to engage with them face to face."
Tuffington said the idea came to him while walking Bob and Chuck, his two Patterdale terriers, after the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, and so far, more than 1,000 people have committed on Facebook, with more than 5,000 expressing interest.
"I just had this image of alt-right people stomping around in the poop," he said, using a euphemism coined by contemporary reactionaries, white supremacists, and other rightwingers to describe themselves.
On Sunday, once the far-right protesters have packed up and left the field—which features a popular promenade and beach beside the Golden Gate Bridge—Tuffington's group plans to reconvene to "clean up the mess and hug each other," according to the event page, which also warns: "Watch out for landmines, friends!"
Among several other counterprotests planned for San Francisco this weekend is Flowers Against Fascism, for which participants will pass out cut flowers to rightwing protesters. The far-right group claims to oppose "extremists," including "Nazis, Communist, KKK, Antifa, white supremacist, I.E., or white nationalists," even though their "free speech" events in the Pacific Northwest have often ended in violence.
The far-right protesters are also likely to encounter a contingent of marching clowns, who say "fascism is no laughing matter," as well as a collection of kayakers, boaters, sailors, and surfers who plan to paddle out to the bay that borders the field during the Patriot Prayer rally.
Ahead of the Saturday's events, the National Park Service has developed a security plan that "includes closing the area around Crissy Field to vehicles and bicycles, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Palace of Fine Arts, and allowing pedestrians to enter only at the Marina Boulevard Gate at Mason Street," SFGate reports. "Pedestrians will be screened for a number of banned items, including guns and weapons of any kind, helmets and shields, balloons, selfie sticks, and pepper spray."
