More than a thousand people are expected to descend Sunday on downtown Portland to oppose a right-wing group at the center of numerous provocative rallies, but they may not find many people there to confront.

Joey Gibson, whose Patriot Prayer movement has triggered clashes across the city and beyond, said he will scrap his plan to bring controversial speakers and a throng of conservative followers to the Salmon Street Springs fountain.

Instead, only he and his group's most ardent supporters will hold a march and rally on the waterfront while the rest of the participants gather at a previously unannounced event in Vancouver.

Gibson said he made the last-minute switch to keep his supporters out of harm's way. But the move is also squarely focused on out-maneuvering antifascist activists, or antifa, who have turned up to protest his public events.

"It's the only way to take away antifa's message that they're trying to protect Portland," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Under Gibson's new plan, Patriot Prayer's participants will hold their rally and march at 2 p.m. at the Vancouver Landing Amphitheater. He said that his supporters will be bringing donations to assist families who have been affected by the Eagle Creek fire in the Columbia River Gorge. He added that the Vancouver Police Department and Portland Police Bureau are aware of the event and will be present to assist with public safety.

Meanwhile, Gibson said that he and an undisclosed number of Patriot Prayer members will show up in downtown Portland beginning around 12:30 p.m. Gibson said he will keep his hands in the air in a gesture of non-violent resistance and has asked those who will be with him to do the same.

However, he acknowledged that his presence alone may provoke an attack by counter-protesters, such as the one he faced at a rally in Berkeley, California last month.

"Either way, it's a win-win for us," Gibson said. "As long as we remain non-violent."

Gibson, 33, a former middle school football coach who now flips houses for a living, has earned a growing profile for his willingness to lead right-leaning marches and rallies in liberal enclaves on the West Coast, often provoking strong opposition.

Most of them have centered in Portland, a short drive from Gibson's home in Vancouver where he lives with his wife and two young children. He has also staged events billed as promoting free speech in Seattle and at Olympia's Evergreen State College, which became the center of a national debate over race, speech and political disagreement earlier this year.

Late last month, Gibson generated national headlines when he drew the ire of political leaders and thousands of counter-protesters in San Francisco and Berkeley for attempting to organize rallies in the Bay Area. A video that showed Gibson being physically attacked and blasted with pepper spray as he marched alone into a crowd of counter-protesters in Berkeley spread across right-wing news outlets and social media networks, making him a conservative cause célèbre.

Propelled into activism by Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Gibson said he has more recently tried to downplay political divisions and promote a message of unity, peace and patriotism.

Yet one of Gibson's top priorities seems to be challenging anarchists, antifascists and social justice activists who are willing to forcefully confront those with opposing points of view.

His demonstrations have been criticized because they've attracted white nationalists and others who promote racist or bigoted views. The outcry was magnified after the May attack in Portland that left two men dead when they tried to intervene in a racist diatribe aboard a MAX train and then last month in Charlottesville, Va., when police and witnesses said a man drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters at a march held by white nationalists and neo-Nazis, killing one person.

A spokesman for Rose City Antifa, a prominent antifascist group in Portland, said Gibson's event on Sunday, like his previous ones, will likely draw people espousing hateful views.

"This is just another opportunity for far-right folks, white nationalists and white supremacists to come to Portland to organize, network and assault activists," said the spokesman, who identified himself only by his first name David. Members of the loosely-organized group often shield their identity to avoid becoming targets of law enforcement or political opponents.

Gibson's gatherings drew special condemnation after Jeremy Christian, now facing murder charges in the MAX train stabbings, notably attended one in April. At the march, others confronted Christian after he delivered a Nazi salute.

Less than 10 days after the train attack, Patriot Prayer held a pro-Trump rally in downtown Portland despite efforts by Mayor Ted Wheeler to derail the demonstration, fearing it would heighten tension and anger in the aftermath. Police arrested 14 people at the event, which remained relatively peaceful.

Rose City Antifa, whose members often dress in black and mask their faces, is among roughly 80 groups that are organizing or supporting counter-protests downtown Sunday. Organizers have promoted the events as rallies to "Shut down white supremacy" and "March against white nationalism."

Gibson says that he is half-Japanese and his past events have featured speakers from a diverse array of ethnic backgrounds.

Demonstrators will begin funneling into downtown by late morning and could remain in the area until at least 5 p.m., police and organizers said. Events are scheduled to take place at Salmon Street Springs in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Pioneer Courthouse Square and Terry Schrunk Plaza.

Among those set to show up downtown to oppose Gibson's "Peaceful Portland Freedom March" are members of Portland's faith community, labor unions, anti-war protesters and environmental and social justice activists. The First Unitarian Church of Portland said it plans that it will have 150 people, including children, join a larger rally and march led by Portland Stands United Against Hate, an umbrella organization.

The city is preparing for a potentially violent showdown between dueling demonstrators, with a ramped-up police presence and vows to crackdown on clashes and criminal acts.

Portland police said in a statement that there will be a "significant law enforcement presence" during the marches and rallies — a departure from the more hands-off approach they have taken at recent demonstrations between Gibson's group and counter-protesters. Authorities will also bar firearms, knives, bats, sticks, rocks, poles and fireworks from the events.

"As usual, our priority is to protect the life and safety of those participating in these events, as well as property," Sgt. Chris Burley, a Portland police spokesman, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "We don't want to interfere with people's lawful right to assemble or right to speech that's protected by the First Amendment."

In recent interviews and videos published to his Facebook page, Gibson has repeatedly denounced violence at his events as well the extremists — at both ends of the political spectrum —who've attended them. "I've already made it clear they don't represent me," he said. "I don't want them there."

Yet Gibson also conceded that he has little control over who will show up.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 II @shanedkavanaugh