A purported July 4 flag-burning protest at Gettysburg, which was organized and shared on social media by a supposed antifa member, led to a militia flocking to protect Civil War monuments.
But no such flag-burning took place, revealing a potential catfishing operation as reported by The Washington Post.
"It doesn't matter if it's a hoax or not," Christopher Blakeman, 45, of Falling Waters, West Virginia, told the Post. "They made a threat, and if we don't make our voices heard, it'll make it seem like it's O.K."
The protest was similar to a Gettysburg antifa hoax a few years ago, where no such group of protesters showed as bikers and militia members showed. The only event that took place was one of the militia members accidentally shot himself in the leg.
Saturday's supposed flag-burning event was shared on a Facebook page called Left Behind USA, per the report.
"Let's get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue," Left Behind USA's page read in mid-June, promising antifa face paint and "free small flags to children to safely throw into the fire."
It prompted Macky Marker of First State Pathfinders, a Delaware militia, to post a YouTube video organizing a counter-protest to protect the Gettysburg monuments.
"If you plan on coming, I would plan on coming full battle-rattle," Marker said in the video, per the Post, "to be fully, 100% prepared to defend yourself and whoever you come with."
Through an exhaustive investigative report, the Post tracked down the manager of the Left Behind USA page that promoted the protest. He called himself Alan Jeffs, a 38-year-old lifelong Democrat turned anarchist from Pittsburgh, but who now lives in Des Moines.
But the Post could not verify if Alan Jeffs was a true identify or a fake one.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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