Proud Boys March Again On Long Island

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — The Proud Boys, an alt-right group, marched in Rockville Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Rockville Centre Mayor Francis Murray said in a statement on Facebook that the small group rallied without a permit, but added, they were "mostly orderly."

However, Assemb. Judy Griffin, who represents Rockville Centre, posted a clip of the rally on social media, and called it "extremely concerning."

The group was made up of about 20 people, who held American flags and "Don't Tread on Me" flags as they marched on Small Business Saturday along Sunrise Highway. The protest lasted less than an hour, Murray wrote.

"Our village is made up of decent, law-abiding residents that denounce groups that spread hate and seek to divide us," Murray said. "I’m confident and grateful that extremist groups, like the Proud Boys, won’t find support from me or our community."

Police were overseeing the rally and controlling traffic, Newsday reported.

"The Proud Boys’ brazen display of hatred in Rockville Centre was profoundly disturbing on so many levels. We must never give their warped worldview an inch to fester and grow,” Nassau County Legis. Debra Mulé, D-Freeport, said in a statement. "Now is the time to condemn vile bigotry wherever it emerges and come together to declare loudly and clearly that hate has no place in Rockville Centre or anywhere else in our county."

The Proud Boys also marched along the streets of Bay Shore and Patchogue last month.

The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder and Hudson Valley resident Gavin McInnes. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has classified the Proud Boys as a hate group, they are self-described "Western chauvinists" and are best known for white nationalist, anti-Muslim, and misogynistic rhetoric. Many members have been linked to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, and the group was named a terrorist entity by Canada this May.