Skip to main content

Pelosi Statement on NPS Permit Approval for White Supremacist Rally at Crissy Field

August 23, 2017

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

San Francisco – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the National Park Service issued a permit for a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area this Saturday:

"From the start, I have had grave concerns about the public safety hazard the National Park Service would create by permitting a white supremacist rally in the middle of a park for families and children. I had hoped that the NPS would take a serious look at its capacity to protect the public in Crissy Field. Instead, the NPS is strangely using public safety as the reason for granting the permit, while placing an inordinate burden on the City's resources for safety.

"In San Francisco, we have great reverence for the Constitutional right to dissent and peaceful free speech. However, free speech does not grant the right to yell fire in a crowded theater, incite violence or endanger the public in any venue.

"As we ponder where and by whom the ill-conceived decision to approve this permit in a national park was made, we must all pray it does not become an invitation to incite violence."

# # #