A number of communists interrupted July 4 celebrations in Philadelphia, calling for a “real revolution” while burning the American flag as citizens celebrated Independence Day.
The activists from the Revolutionary Communist Party, a formerly Maoist group founded in Chicago in the 1970s, attempted to interrupt the “Celebration of Freedom” event in Philadelphia on Tuesday, part of the Wawa Welcome America festival the city is holding.
Footage from News2Share producer Ford Fischer posted to social media showed a group of around 10 communists, blaring out sirens and shouting through megaphones while the event was taking place just outside Independence Hall, where the Constitution was created and signed.
Among the speakers at the interrupted event were Jim Kenney, the mayor of Philadelphia, and Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro, who said that there was “no better place to celebrate the 4th of July than right here in Philadelphia.”
“We will end oppression… all around the world,” one man holding a megaphone barked at the crowd, telling the audience that they were “looking for a real revolution.” The communists further blamed the United States for the “slavery and genocide of the Native Americans.”
A number of American flags were also burned during the July 4 celebrations, with one of the communists encouraging people to join them, and that “the rev coms [are] working for a whole new world free of oppression and exploitation.”
VIDEO THREAD: This morning, members of the Revolutionary Communist Party interrupted the July 4 city Celebration of Freedom event in Philadelphia (where both the governor and mayor spoke) by burning an American flag.
They advocated the crowd join them for "a real revolution." pic.twitter.com/lUw9gtlxAV
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) July 4, 2023
Following the lighting of the flags on fire, the activists were briefly detained by police officers, given regulations that prevented fires from being lit in public parks in the city. It was determined that the burning of the American flags was a lawful form of protest, but that a tote bag set on fire by the embers may have breached the regulations, resulting in a warning being issued.
Sunsara Taylor, one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Party, was behind some of the protests at churches and at the homes of Supreme Court Justices, following the revelation that Roe v. Wade was set to be overturned last year.
Meet @SunsaraTaylor – a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party who has led protests at churches and justices’ homes. pic.twitter.com/HqYuKtJzrw
— JCN (@judicialnetwork) August 27, 2022
