Anti-Muslim activists hoisted American flags and delivered fiery speeches in poorly attended rallies across the country Saturday, facing off against crowds of counter-demonstrators in several cities and exposing the visceral rage that has come to define America’s political extremes.
ACT for America, a lobbyist organization with close ties to the Trump administration, organized nationwide marches to oppose Islamic law, which the group says is a threat to U.S. society. The turnout was very poor as they are outnumbered 10 to 1 by who came out for the counter protest.
ACT, which has drawn condemnation from civil rights groups for its frequent criticism of Islam and its efforts to pass state-level bills targeting Islamic law and refugees, organized the protests as a nationwide “March Against Sharia” and a defense of human rights.
ACT for America, which the Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes as a hate group, was founded in 2007. Its leaders, who claim a 500,000-strong membership nationally, have labeled Islam a “cancer,” propagated theories of a secret plot by Muslims, Democrats, communists and the media to destroy the country from within, and sponsored lectures on how to monitor and oppose U.S. mosques.
The group’s founder, Brigitte Gabriel, has said that she is anti-sharia, not anti-Muslim, a point that a number of the group’s speakers repeated Saturday
