Dozens of counterprotesters congregated outside Rep. Maxine Waters’ South Los Angeles office where a far-right group planned a rally on Thursday.
The congresswoman drew criticism from Donald Trump and others over comments she made at an immigrant rights demonstration in L.A. in June, in which she encouraged people to confront members of the administration in public.
The Oath Keepers, a self-proclaimed group of constitution defenders, announced its own protest against Waters.
Describing her as a “protest terrorist inciter,” the group called for its members to “stand against terrorism, stand for freedom of speech and association, in support of ICE/Border Patrol as they enforce constitutional immigration laws.”
The Oath Keepers, however, later agreed with police not to continue with the plan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
And while Waters discouraged counterprotesters, several of them filled the streets outside her office on Thursday afternoon.
“This is about Maxine Waters utilizing her constitutional right and being threatened as a result,” Pastor James Thomas told KTLA.
The pastor tried to keep the peace as some people chased away a man holding a microphone that bore the word “offensive.”
At some point, counterprotesters grabbed an American flag from a pickup truck that appeared to push through the crowd. They set it on fire and danced around it while chanting “America was never great.”
“Every so often people who they suspected supported Trump would show and they would push them out,” L.A. Times reporter Benjamin Oreskes tweeted.
About 15 members of the Oath Keepers eventually showed up at the rally but left, said Bassad Pesci, who identified himself as a friend of the Oath Keepers.
“They saw weapons and they were afraid…They didn’t think they could handle the crowd,” he told KTLA.
There were no reports of injuries or arrests.
