“This page is not available,” Facebook says.

"The link you followed may be broken, or the page has been deleted," the error message continues.

And for good reason: Friday, September 4, the social media giant decided to remove the accounts of this far-right American group from its Facebook and Instagram platforms "as part of its ongoing efforts to ban violent militias from our platform ", he said.

Involved for several weeks in violence against anti-racist protesters in Portland (Oregon) - whom they regularly challenge alongside supporters of Donald Trump and other far-right movements such as the Proud Boys - the Patriot Prayer group has lost one of its members on August 31, shot dead by a far-left activist who was participating in a demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

This fatal shooting then shone the spotlight on this small group of conservative activists who emerged in the states of Oregon and Washington, in the western United States, after the election of Donald Trump, in 2016.

Links with another group, the "Proud Boys"

Based in Portland, the movement was created by Joey Gibson, who leads the movement from Washington state.

If the latter, who describes himself as a "conservative libertarian", denies any connection to the alt-right - a far-right movement born in the late 2000s in the United States - his movement has however been joined, at rallies in support of the US president, by white nationalists and far-right groups such as Proud Boys and Hell Shaking Street Preachers.

It was in August 2017, the day after the white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally "Unite the Right" organized in Charlottesville, in which a car had driven into a crowd of counter-demonstrators, killing one and injuring 19, that Patriot Prayer started to talk about him.

The latter had tried to move away from the alt-right as much as possible.

But since then, their paths have only crossed.

A year later, as Joey Gibson announces his candidacy for the Republican camp for the election of senator from the State of Washington, the rally "Gibson for Senate Freedom March" in Portland, organized by Patriot Prayer, draws a crowd of counter-demonstrators including trade unions, migrant rights defenders and "anti-fa" activists.

Following violent clashes, the Oregon police must intervene to put an end to what they then described as "civil unrest".

That day, alongside Patriot Prayer, stood another formation, known for its very right-wing positions: the Proud Boys, an organization created in New York by Gavin McInnes - also co-founder of Vice Media - exclusively masculine, pro-Trump, national in scope and considered far right by associations and the media.

If unlike Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer is a smaller regional group, Vegas Tenold, a researcher at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, explains that these two movements attract the same kind of people.

“Their ideology is extremely vague,” he told the Insider media.

“You can just say they're pro-God, pro-First Amendment. That's it.”.

This is also the goal displayed by Patriot Prayer: to defend the First Amendment to the Constitution (which notably prohibits Congress from adopting laws limiting freedom of religion and expression), and "liberate the conservatives from the coast Where is".

The Oregon group and its founder, Joey Gibson, have also always assured that they are above all a Christian organization.

Their gatherings are smaller than those of Proud Boys, but Patriot Prayer members often join those organized by the latter.

Vegas Tenold describes them as "the kind of guy who exists to go out on the streets and confront the protesters."

Protesters mainly from the far left, like this 48-year-old man, Michael Forest Reinoehl, alleged perpetrator of the murder of Aaron Danielson (known as “Jay”), member of Patriot Prayer shot dead on August 31 , in Portland.

The fear of an explosion of violence in the run-up to the presidential election

Last year, Joey Gibson was charged with inciting a riot after a street fight.

“Where they go, violence often follows,” Vegas Tenold continues in Insider.

For his part, the American journalist David Neiwert, who writes for the Hatewatch blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center, describes Patriot Prayer as a “troll” (individual whose behavior aims to generate controversy, Editor's note), with the intention of provoking a response from far-left anti-fascists.

Also, the mobilization of anti-racism activists and extremist groups in recent weeks has raised fears of an explosion of violence in the run-up to the presidential election, in a country deeply divided, in recession and in difficulty in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The far right is exploiting the extremely conflictual political climate, which has become even more uncertain because of the pandemic and the protests for racial justice," said in a report the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors groups in particular extremists, judging the risk of political violence before the elections to be "very real".

Facing the far right is an even more motley coalition, which Donald Trump groups together under the portmanteau word "antifa".

He accuses him of bringing together "agitators, anarchists or rioters".

For Daniel Byman of the Brookings Institution, the ranks of the "antifa" are made up "of simple thugs who like to fight, and people who really want to fight against white supremacists".

But according to him, they are "less organized" than their opponents, which increases the risk of overflows.

Regularly accused by NGOs and leftist politicians of laxity with movements that incite hatred, the Facebook group has taken many measures to ensure that its platform does not serve as a vehicle for violence.

Evidenced by his crackdown against QAnon (a pro-Trump movement known for promoting conspiracy theories), militias and also anarchist groups who encourage dangerous interventions.

So many actions that should make it possible to "restrict their ability to organize", explained the Californian company.

However, if Patriot Prayer is no longer present on Facebook, it still has a Twitter account and other social networks that are more confidential, but no less effective.

With AFP

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