While the Bay Area braces for a whole slew of political rallies of various persuasions this weekend, plans for a reportedly white-supremacist protest in Berkeley on Sunday have gotten a bit complicated, featuring a President Trump supporter and transgender event host known to her colleagues as “Based Tranny.”

After initially claiming that no permit had been sought for the so-called “No to Marxism” event, city officials on Thursday further clouded things by saying that a permit request had, in fact, been received at City Hall and subsequently denied, largely for technical reasons.

On Friday, things were even more confusing as it was still not clear if Berkeley would try and prevent the rally from taking place or if its organizers would even more forward with their demonstration.

Amber Cummings, a transgender woman who lives in the Bay Area but has reportedly refused to reveal where exactly she lives, made a surprise appearance outside City Hall earlier in the week, responding to reporters questions about the “anti-Marxist” rally planned for Berkeley’s Civic Center Park by her and her colleagues.

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Cummings, who is associated with groups that have held three other rallies in the same park and has appeared in photographs holding a sign that reads “TRANSWOMEN FOR TRUMP,” told reporters that her event is not about hate speech or white supremacy.

“That is an outright lie that this mayor is propagating,” she said of Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “White supremacy is not allowed at my rally. We do not want racist people there. We do not want hateful people there.”

According to an article in Berkeleyside, Cummings said “we also do not want violent people there. If anybody is coming with the intent of violence, do not come to my rally.”

Still, Cummings once appeared in a photograph at a rally next to Norther California activist and white supremacist Nathan Damigo, founder of Identity Evropa and a player in recent violent clashes in Berkeley and the more recent incident in Charlottesville.

While playing down any suggestion that Sunday’s rally might create the same sort of violence that marred the recent demonstration in Virginia, where one woman and two police officers died, Cummings insisted her event would be “a diverse rally” that would include several transgender women as well as “people of all colors.”

“It’s not a right-wing rally,” she told the news outlet. “Anybody that supports the constitution, supports our country and loves our people is welcome.”

Cummings told reporters that her event is about free speech and that she finds it offensive that she can’t walk around the ultra-liberal city and UC Berkeley campus with an American flag without getting harassed.

The question now remains whether Cummings’s planned rally will take place and, if so, how the city might respond. City officials had indicated earlier in the week that if such a rally took place, even while saying that no one had sought a permit for it, the city would not try and stop it.

According to a letter dated Wednesday to Cummings, Deputy City Manager Jovan Grogan said the permit application, dated Aug. 17, “is incomplete, (and) missing critical information” required by the Berkeley Municipal Code.” The application was also turned in late, according to the city.

What could now be a non-rally was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Cummings’ application, according to Grogan’s letter, and organizers were expecting an estimated 300 attendees in the park from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cummings could not be immediately reached for comment Friday morning, but Berkeley has a history of unpermitted demonstrations, including an “alt-right” and pro-Trump “free speech” rally in Civic Center Park on April 15. Cummings’ Facebook page contains only two photos and no references to the rally or her group.

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However, according to the “No to Marxism in America” Facebook page, which is also hosted by Cummings, some 324 people indicated as of Friday morning that they would show up while another 880 said they were ”interested” in the event.

On the event’s page, Cummings writes that “in America we have Marxism being taught in our schools and communities. Berkeley is a ground zero for the Marxist Movement and we need to speak out and say NO to Marxism. This event is our chance to speak out and expose the plan of purging our nation from a free nation to a communist nation. We will not tolerate this in America. So we are asking people to come stand against Marxism.”

Cummings goes on to say that “I do not invite or condone anyone showing up to this event with the intent of starting violence. I also want to add I do not stand with any racist groups like the KKK , Neo Nazis, or any form of racist groups. You are not welcome at this event and please stay away. I myself am a transsexual female who embraces diversity and loves diversity. This event is not a event of hate speech it is a event about concerns of Marxism in America.”

The city’s spokeswoman, Karina Ioffee, told this newspaper that Berkeley officials were assuming for now that the event will take place and that “anyone who engages in or threatens violence will be swiftly dealt with.”

Readers on all sides of the political landscape responded quickly on Friday to news about the rally.

“Does anyone in Berkeley who thinks about more than their prejudices and hypocrisy really think that this righteous stand by whoever signed off on the permit denial is not going to make what happens Sunday worse than if they permit had been granted?” wrote someone named “RetiredRacer13

Jerome Dupree wrote “free speech in Berkeley is dead. Long live the left-wing king.”

Meanwhile, local police agencies have announced that even though protest permits have not been issued for Sunday’s assorted demonstrations the various factions have agreed to meet in different locations to avoid violence, according to Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern.

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Ahern told The Center for Investigative Reporting that the county is expecting thousands of people to descend on Berkeley for dueling protests Aug. 27. Because of the number of demonstrators, Berkeley police will receive assistance from the Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies.

“We expect extremist groups from all walks of life representing all different points of view,” Ahern said. “We’re going to do our best to keep the groups separate.”