Patriot Front is a white nationalist group that broke off from far-right group Vanguard America after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. in August 2017.
The group staged a small demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 4, and since then, a video claiming to show a clash from that demonstration between bystanders and Patriot Front members has been viewed more than 1 million times on Twitter.
The 57-second video shows a group of people with shields being chased into Penske trucks before the trucks drive away.
THE QUESTION
Is the viral video of a clash involving Patriot Front members actually from the Dec. 4 demonstration in Washington, D.C.?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the video was not taken during the Dec. 4 rally in Washington. It was actually taken during a July 3 demonstration in Philadelphia.
WHAT WE FOUND
Using Twitter’s advanced search functionality, VERIFY was able to find several videos and mentions of the Patriot Front march in Philadelphia that took place on July 3.
The same 57-second video that was posted claiming to be from the December Patriot Front rally in Washington was originally posted to Twitter on July 4 from the Philadelphia rally.
VERIFY was able to find several other angles showing the same events (see here, here, here and here, as examples).
The blue fence seen in the background of the video purporting to be from the Washington, D.C. rally in December actually shows fencing that is installed along Christopher Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia.
The location can be confirmed by Google Maps.
On Dec. 4, Penske Truck Rental tweeted a statement after the claims were made that Patriot Front members used their trucks in the December demonstrations in Washington.
“Penske Truck Rental is aware of certain footage currently circulating on social media. This footage is from a previous event in Philadelphia, which we strongly condemned at the time, and we continue to strongly condemn it,” the statement said. “Penske stands firmly against racism. It is our current understanding that no Penske vehicles were involved in today’s event in Washington, D.C. Anyone found to be using a Penske vehicle for such purposes would be prohibited from any future rentals.”
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