From staff reports

Pensacola News Journal

Update 2:20 p.m.:

Pensacola Police Department spokesman Mike Wood said the man arrested with battery at the rally was Caleb Burris, 24. Wood said in a statement that Burris knocked a megaphone out of another person's hand.

Update 1 p.m.:

Rally organizers have thanked the crowd and police for keeping the peace the last four hours. All but four people have packed up their signs and are leaving. The bullhorn man is sitting down, but has yet to leave.

The crowd on the other side of the street started a chant of “Take it down, take it down.”

Police appear to be asking the group to disperse, and just a handful of those protestors remain as well.

Update 12:45 p.m.

The rally appeared to be coming to an end when a man knocked a bullhorn out of a woman’s hand who was asking people to sign a petition to take the statue down. The police reacted within seconds and broke it up, p

Rally organizers have thanked the crowd and police for keeping the peace the last four hours. All but four people have packed up their signs and are leaving. The bullhorn man is sitting down, but has yet to leave.

The crowd on the other side of the street started a chant of “Take it down, take it down.”

Police appear to be asking the group to disperse, and just a handful of those protestors remain as well.

Putting the aggressor under arrest. Police in SWAT gear arrived in two police cars and took the man away.

The crowd, once quiet, is now on its feet again. A pro-monument speaker is shouting from a bullhorn, calling anti-monument protestors “diabolical sociopaths.” An anti-monument protestor is blowing into a whistle to drown out his words.

The speaker is now calling out City Council and County Commissioners to take a stand.

“Where are you Ashton Hayward, where are you?,” the unidentified man asked into the bullhorn. “I was hoping you would show up today and speak with these people, but you won’t show your face, will you?”

“These politicians are the same sociopaths who started segregation,” he continued. “They change their tune. These politicians want to destroy American monuments without the consent of the people.”

Police have now asked the two groups to go the opposite sides of the street. There are more police on scene now than protestors, but those who remain are very vocal.

Update 11:45 a.m.

The group is now much smaller, and most of the anti-monument side has moved in to Lee Square. The police presence is much tighter, and protestors from both sides are using air horns, whistles and megaphones to shout over each other. One man from the pro-monument side, Adam Andrew, is attempting to mitigate the most heated crowds telling monument supporters to retreat and not engage in a situation that may become violent.

A group of about a dozen men and women holding Antifa signs are directly across from the group.

“We are pleased with the way the crowd has conducted itself,” said PPD spokesman Mike Wood. “Our officers continue to observe, and will do so until the conclusion of the event. We have noticed positive dialogue between opposing sides and hope to see that continue.”

Update: 11:20 a.m.:

Police are closing in around the monument as back-and-forth arguments turn racial. The chanting has stopped but roughly 30 people covering both sides of today's rally are arguing back and forth about slave ownership and the plight of African Americans in today's society. One young black woman said she has two college degrees and no children, after an older white woman said she's "probably off having another baby every nine months."

The confrontation grew progressively worse - and racial - as the two women screamed at each other.

As the two women broke apart, others were quick to point out that the two women do not represent the majority of either the pro-monument or anti-monument side. The verbal fight was enough to prompt many in the crowd to leave the rally all together. Only about 20 people remain on the anti-monument side of the street, while about 60 people remain in Lee Square, where both sides of the debate are mingled.

The small remaining crowd is using air horns and megaphones to shout over each other.

Updated 10:50 a.m.:

Monument protestors are back to chanting "no klan, no CSA, no fascist USA" after a small skirmish broke out in the crowd.

Pensacola Police Department officers just rushed toward a crowd of protesters standing directly below the Confederate monument when one of the anti-monument protestors was stomping on the Confederate flag. One of the pro-monument supporters tried to grab the flag from beneath the woman's feet and each side rushed in, though there was no physical violence.

Updated 10:30 a.m.:

Amid the shouts of both sides, a small group of anti-Confederate monument protestors walked across the street and began speaking with a pro-Confederate monument protestor. After a few minutes of conversation, both sides shook hands and even hugged. Jermaine Williams, who was among the group that crossed the street, said he wanted to see what they had in common.

"I just wanted to come over here and talk because we can't hear each other over here," Williams said. "To be honest, despite what they say, none of them has met or spoke with a young black male from the inner city."

RC Pittman, president of Bikers for Trump and on pro-monument side, said no one's mind was changed, but it was better than the groups shouting at each other.

"You can't have a discussion with another person unless you shut up and let them talk," Pittman said.

Update: 9:45 a.m.:

The crowds at the competing rallies in Lee Square have grown to several hundred people, with pro- and anti-monument participants mostly separated by Palafox Street. The majority of shouting appears to be coming from the pro-monument crowd.

A man carrying the Nazi sign said he is wearing it not because he supports the Nazi cause, but because he believes Democrats are Nazis. Another man nearby is wearing a shirt that says Deplorable Lives Matter. Another shirt reads "Guns don't kill people, but they help."

Across the street, a man is stomping on the Confederate flag.

Despite the negative words, there has not been violence nearly an hour into the competing rally.

"We've got teams (of officers) up there and we switch them periodically, and it's so far so good," said Mike Wood, a spokesman with the PPD. "We've had some shouting back and forth, but as long as it doesn't get violent we'll keep going.

Update: 9:20 a.m.

Police are taking a more active approach. They were hanging out by barriers, but 10 minutes into the rally a large group of about 15 police officers came forward at once, splitting up to mingle with the crowds on both side of the street.

The pro-monument crowd is now chanting to take down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statues in city.

“I'm not here about race, I'm here about the monument,” said Barbara Jernigan. “What's fair to one is fair for the other, and if they're going to take down the Confederate monument they need to take down the Martin Luther King statues. It's not because of color of the skin, it's about attitude.”

More:Watch live: Protesters, counter protesters meet at Lee Square

Britney Habibti of Mobile stood across from the line of Confederate flag carrying protesters wearing a black hijab.

Habibiti said the atmosphere was scary but that she felt she was doing the right thing.

"You cannot live in fear," the 28-year-old woman said.

Moments later, the anti-monument crowd took a knee in protest, while the pro-monument side broke into song - The Star Spangled Banner.

Update: 9 a.m.

Moments before the planned rally in support of keeping the Confederate monument in Lee Square, the two sides are growing increasing vocal and attempting to out-scream each other.

On one side are groups of men and women carrying posters with Nazi swastikas, confederate flags and a mix of President Donald Trump hats and shirts. The group is chanting “No more welfare” at a group of black protesters across the street.

The two groups are separated by Palafox Street and separated by Lee Square.

The anti-monument group is a mix of people, many carrying signs with messages such as “You are not the victims,” “Racism isn’t patriotism, “No honor for treason and slavery,” “No racist USA.”

Keith Altarac of Pensacola carried a Confederate flag and a Florida flag as he stood by the monument.

Altarac, who is not a veteran, said the issue is about veterans rights.

Alatarac, who wore a "Make America Great Again T-shirt, said people who were upset about the outcome of November's presidential election were the ones who want the statue to come down.

Original story

Pensacola Police Department officials are taking no chances with today's planned Confederate monument rally at Lee Square.

Dozens of police cars and SUVs lined PPD headquarters before 7 a.m., engines running, ready to dispatch if needed.

So far, Lee Square is quiet. The park itself is barricaded off on both sides of the streets and all of the parking areas around the park are blocked off by barricades, police tape or rope.

PPD isn't sure what to expect after a Milton man got a permit earlier this week for a rally in support of keeping Pensacola's Confederate monument in Lee Square. Hours after Olsen announced his rally, an anti-monument group announced it planned to be at the rally in protest, encouraging community members to take the monument down.

Thomas Olsen said Monday that he and other supporters of the monument to the Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War have gathered thousands of signatures on online petitions calling for preservation of the monument.

"It is about my Southern heritage, and I am trying to preserve that history," said Olsen, whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Olsen plans the rally to start at 9 a.m.

Pensacola's local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp, which also is in support of keeping the monument, called on people not to attend the rally, arguing it would not change minds.

F. T. Ratchford, a spokesman for Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1315, told the News Journal the rally would only hurt the cause of those who support the monument remaining.

"We are asking all people of good will not to go," Ratchford said. "... We're telling everyone who will listen to us not to go. Boycott it and do not participate in this meaningless act, which is going to do nothing but create friction."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a group made up of descendants of Confederate soldiers.

Ratchford said the group is nonpolitical and condemns any far-right and neo-Nazi organizations. The group also wants to see the preservation of any monument to Confederate veterans, Ratchford said.