Amber Cummings finally got to hold the rally she wanted in Martin Luther King Jr. Park today – and she was the only one there.
Cummings showed up in downtown Berkeley around 1 p.m., six days after the rally she called for, and then canceled, attracted thousands of demonstrators and counter-demonstrators.
But Cummings seemed fine with the empty park. She arrived and then live-streamed her thoughts directly to her followers on Facebook.
“This is how it should be when you come out to speak,” said Cummings. “No one is here to attack anybody. This is the desired goal that I wanted. We have won people, we can now come into Berkeley and we can speak. … Free speech won today. There was free speech in MLK Park.”
Cummings went on to denounce antifa, the masked black clad, far-left protesters who came in the hundreds to the Aug 27 rally. They rushed into the park in the afternoon, once police decided to step aside, and chased away and attacked the few Trump supporters and far-right activists who remained. Cummings told her Facebook followers that antifa were trying to violently overthrow the government, much like the Weather Underground group of the 1970s did.
“I am speaking out against violent terrorists, antifa and BAMN, they come out and are attacking citizens, burning the American flag, burning free speech signs,” said Cummings. “They are here terrorizing the people and we witnessed that on Sunday. They went around just pillaging the city… a bunch of terrorist fascists terrorizing our streets. We won’t stand for it.”
Thousands of others marched peacefully on Sunday in solidarity against racism and hatred.
Cummings said she was equally opposed to those on the far right and the far left and called for moderates on each side to come together. She said she did not practice hate speech.
But as has been her m.o. since she called for the rally, Cummings refused to answer questions directly. She declined to comment about her attempts to raise funds for Kyle Chapman, aka “Based Stickman,” on her Facebook page. Chapman is one of the new, rising cult figures on the far right. He vaulted into national prominence after he attended a March 4 rally in Berkeley decked out in combat-like clothing and using a stick to allegedly hit people. Chapman is currently facing felony charges for carrying a leaded stick and was ordered by a judge to stay away from Berkeley.
Cummings has called Chapman a “hero.” She offered to sell sticks signed by him for $50 and signed shields for $250. The money would go to him.
This reporter attempted to ask Cummings some questions about that support but was told she was being rude since Cummings was live streaming. Cummings then walked away and called out to a nearby police officer to say that someone was stalking her.
A freelance cameraman for Vice News was also at the park to film Cummings.
The rally lasted less than ten minutes.
