After three venues canceled their America First Rally, including the Riverside Convention Center, Representatives Gaetz and Greene organized a protest outside of Riverside City Hall.
On Twitter, Gaetz called the event a “Peaceful Protest Against Communism.” He had this to say at the event, “We will not be silenced, and we will not be shut down, by whatever over-soyed members of the city council of this particular place, or Anaheim, or any other place.”
Peaceful Protest Against Communism
Riverside City Hall, California
TODAY 5pm PST
Calling all California PATRIOTS!#AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/jHNHRyTWtH
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) July 17, 2021
During Congresswoman Greene’s speech, she spoke of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Cancel Culture, and shared her views on vaccinations. Rep. Greene stated, “Don’t let them force your kids to wear a mask in school, don’t let your children to be forced to take a vaccine that’s not FDA approved. It’s your body, your choice.”
The event drew over 100 people, including counter-protesters. Riverside resident Carla said she didn’t want either of the representatives in her city, “I’m here to protest Gaetz and Greene attending in this area; we had already talked to the convention center and asked them to leave." Adding, "They were moved to Anaheim, they were asked to leave Anaheim, and I just don’t want fascists, racists, and pedophiles in our city.”
Fellow Riverside resident Victoria seemed to have the opposite view, saying that the press tried to make it look like the people of Riverside didn’t want an America First Rally, saying, “That’s a lie if you look around and see all the people, this was last minute put together; look how many people are here, people are still coming, so Riverside stands for freedom.”
The event was only 12-minutes long, with no violence being reported from either side.
