By Joe Johnson A small group of armed militia members Saturday morning marched down College Avenue to the University of Georgia Arch where they remained to stage a protest.
The demonstration permit application submitted by the Georgia III% Guardians and approved on Aug. 26 by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department stated that the purpose of the event was “To protest against the normalization and potential legalization of pedophilia, as well child sex trafficking in the United States.”
The event had been promoted on Facebook as the “Save Our Children March.
The posting for the march stated: “Not One More Child! I have read too many Disgusting accounts of Horrific crimes against children that seems to have become more and more common nowadays to the point of "some people" trying to call it a mental illness or sexual preference and trying to downplay it in the biased so called media Come Stand with the Georgia III% Guardians and let them know the WE ARE NOT going to stand by and allow children to be Abused and Killed, We Are Their Voices”
An Athens resident who tracks militia activities called such events scams. The person wanted to remain anonymous because his life had been threatened as a result of his activities.
“Basically, my concern with the march they've concealed from being militia related is that it's a fraudulent means of collecting donations for the militia to further arm and grow themselves. A through line of a lot of "anti-pedophile" causes that have popped up is a worrying level of contact with these militias. I'm working with a small team to probe those groups and get information on the financials,” the person said.
However, Washington resident David Dylan Streetman, who submitted the demonstration application told Classic City News at The Arch that he and his comrades wore military gear and carried assault-type rifles to bring attention to pedophilia and child sex trafficking.
“We want people to get out of their comfort zones and talk to us. We want people to ask us questions,” he said.
Streetman said that in addition to shedding light on the problem of child sexual assault, passersby often stop to ask about the open-carrying of firearms by militia members.
“A lot of people are not aware of their Second Amendment rights, and we tell them that if everyone was armed with guns there would be less crime, that an armed society is a polite society,” he said.
The march began at 10 a.m. at East Dougherty Street with only five Georgia III% Guardians, dressed in military fatigues, carrying assault-type rifles, holding signs and waving an American flag.
When interviewed 90 minutes later, Streetman said he expected more militia members to arrive.
Streetman said his group was not racist or white supremacist.
“We have Black and Asian members, and a Hispanic member,” he said. “What we are is anti-government tyranny.”
However, the day after Donald Trump was elected president, Streetman posted the following on his Facebook page:
“I see all these ppl saying "not my president" and all that shit well let me say this. TRUMP IS THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT and he will fix all the shit that odumma has messed up in this beautiful country Trump is the man to fix this if you don't like it then you are more than welcome to get the hell out Obama was nothing but a 8 year fuck up he ruined this country but guess what now it's our turn! It's the people's turn! It's the average joes turn! It's small town Americas turn to get back to what we have lost to what that Muslim bastard took away and Donald Freakin Trump OUR PRESIDENT will lead us back to that! AMERICAN STRONG!!!!”