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A social media rumor that militant and other groups were going to protest in Weatherford prompted more than 200 counterprotesters, many of them armed, to show up at the county courthouse Saturday, the Weatherford Democrat reported.
Sgt. Matthew Chalmers, a Weatherford police spokesman, said counterprotesters began gathering near the courthouse around 8 a.m., but the groups that were rumored to be planning a demonstration never showed.
“The information that was floating around social media was that there was going to be several hundred people coming from [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa … to protest the statue on the courthouse square,” Chalmers said. “As a result, we had several counterprotest group get on social media as well to gather and come to Weatherford.”
The Weatherford Democrat reported that many of the counterprotesters carried shotguns, rifles and semi-automatic weapons.
“I’ve seen what’s going on around the world, like Minneapolis,” a resident named Curtis, who asked that his last name to be withheld, told the outlet. He was carrying a semi-automatic rifle. He said he served 10 years in the U.S. Marines and told the outlet that he came to protect his hometown.
“I don’t want that to come here to Texas,” he said. “This is where we live and where we raise our families. We don’t want to see any of that violence and chaos. We’re not out here to incite any violence, we’re just here to let them know that the citizens don’t want them busting in from other places telling us how our city should run. It’s pretty much that simple.”
The Democrat reported that the courthouse was surrounded by barricades Saturday morning, and that Weatherford police, the Parker County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety were on the scene.
Parker County commissioners voted last month not to remove a Confederate monument from the courthouse lawn, a decision that prompted large protests. One such demonstration on July 25 has resulted in six arrests, the Democrat reported.
On Thursday, Weatherford Police Chief Lance Arnold told the Democrat that the department was aware of rumors circulating that outside groups planned to protesting at the courthouse over the weekend.
“We have seen a tremendous amount of false and untruthful information about Antifa and other groups coming to Weatherford,” Arnold said. “Some social media posts even indicate they received their information about massive rallies in Weatherford from WPD. We have not told anyone that, and we have no evidence of any such activity this weekend.”