Texas motorcycle clubs want 1,000 bikers to ride to Waco in silent protest

A Facebook event page for the "All for 1 Rally & Protest," created May 28, 2015, showed more than 800 people planned to attend on Friday evening. A video promoting the event calls for "1000 bikers in silent peaceful protest" on Sunday, June 7. less A Facebook event page for the "All for 1 Rally & Protest," created May 28, 2015, showed more than 800 people planned to attend on Friday evening. A video promoting the event calls for "1000 bikers in silent ... more Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 90 Caption Close Texas motorcycle clubs want 1,000 bikers to ride to Waco in silent protest 1 / 90 Back to Gallery

In the weeks following the Waco shootout that left 9 bikers dead, anger and accusations erupted in the blogosphere directed at the Waco Police Department's handling of the incident.

Now, Texas biker groups plan to gather next weekend in protest at the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco.

A Facebook event page for the "All for 1 Rally & Protest," created yesterday, showed more than 800 people planned to attend on Friday evening. A video promoting the event calls for "1000 bikers in silent peaceful protest" on Sunday, June 7.

"The Waco PD and other agencies involved has slandered every Biker in the state of Texas as gang members and criminals repeatedly," the event page said.

They also demand the release of bikers imprisoned when the Waco police made a blanket arrest of 172 people in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks, many of whom had no criminal record, following the shootout. Each is being held on a $1 million bond.

"People that were not involved in the brawl their lives are being torn part, jobs are being lost, children worried about their fathers and mothers," wrote a protest organizer.

At least one detainee has sued the police department for their release, while legal experts have predicted trouble for the police department's move.

RELATED: Arrests in Waco could become legal quagmire

According to the event page, biker groups will meet between Dallas and Fort Worth then ride almost 100 miles to Waco. There, they'll gather outside the courthouse in silent protest carrying signs opposing characterization of all bikers as gang members.

"If the sign is attached to a stick make sure it is not too long or pointed," the Facebook page said. "Don't want to be accused of having a weapon."

Comments on the Facebook page indicate others plan to ride in from New Mexico and Kansas, as well as other parts of Texas.

Social media circulation of a flier promoting the protest event has attracted supportive comments from a bloc that decried the Waco police in the immediate aftermath of the shootout.

In the most extreme case, independent websites circulated theories that police officers shot all nine of the dead on May 17. One article posted on the biker news site Aging Rebel the day after the shootout dubbed the incident the "Waco police massacre," and has since been referenced and rehashed on several alternative news sites including Breitbart.

"The Waco Police Department is covering up something," said Donald Charles Davis, an independent journalist on biker affairs and the man behind Aging Rebel. "I have real good sources."

The Waco Police Department has not yet said how many bikers died of police bullets.

The biker protest is being organized by the Dallas-based Sons of Liberty RC motorcycle club and by Texas Biker Radio. Organizers were not immediately available to comment on Friday. The Facebook page repeatedly urges nonviolent protest.

"Be friendly, leave attitudes at home," it said. "If you rile easily stay at home..."