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THE Proud Boys is a white nationalist hate group that was founded in 2016.

Here is more on the far-right organization that has been accused of inciting violence.

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The Proud Boys is an alt-right organization that was launched in New York City in 2016 and has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

They have appeared alongside other alt-right groups at extremist gatherings, including the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2018 that left counter-protester Heather Heyer dead and 19 others injured.

They have often been seen squaring off with Antifa protesters.

There are three degrees of membership, according to the SPLC.

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"To become a first degree in the 'pro-West fraternal organization' a prospective member simply has to declare 'I am a western chauvinist, and I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world,'" the SPLC says.

"To enter the second degree, a Proud Boy has to endure a beating until they can yell out the names of five breakfast cereals (in order to demonstrate 'adrenaline control') and give up masturbation because, in theory, it will leave them more inclined to go out and meet women.

How many members do the Proud Boys have?

A Trump rally in Oregon City, Oregon

The Proud Boys Facebook and Twitter pages had over 20,000 followers at the end of 2017, according to the SPLC.

There are roughly 6,000 members, according to Rewire News.

The group was established during the 2016 presidential election in the months before Donald Trump won the White House.

"Those who enter the third degree have demonstrated their commitment by getting a Proud Boys tattoo."

The SPLC adds: "Any man - no matter his race or sexual-orientation - can join the fraternal organization as long as they 'recognize that white men are not the problem'.

"Women have their own contingent called theProud Boys Girls."

The group denies any connection to the racist "alt-right," according to the SPLC, claiming they are simply a "fraternal group spreading an 'anti-political correctness' and 'anti-white guilt' agenda."

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The group was created by Gavin McInnes, the co-founder of VICE Media.

Writes the SPLC: "McInnes plays a duplicitous rhetorical game: rejecting white nationalism and, in particular, the term 'alt-right' while espousing some of its central tenets.

"For example, McInnes has himself said it is fair to call him Islamophobic."

In the first election debate, Donald Trump did not clearly condemn white supremacist groups and their role in violence in some American cities this summer.

He branded it solely a left-wing problem, telling one far-right extremist group to stand back and stand by.

He said: "Almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.

"I'm willing to do anything. I want to see peace.

"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.

"But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebodys gotta do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem."

A Proud Boys rally in Philadelphia on September 19 never took place.

Hundreds of local residents showed up in Clark Park to oppose the group, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Clark Park remains a place where folks from all walks of life come to recreate and to convene and to just be," City Council member Jamie Gauthier told the newspaper.

"The white supremacist hate group that plan to come here today, they set out to disrupt all of that.

She added: "If these Boys come here today, theyre going to go home to their miserable lives.

"But we will still have work to do."

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The group opposes Antifa which is an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

They have appeared at protests around the country in recent years, including at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017

Black Lives Matter and Antifa followers clashed with Proud Boys in Portland on Saturday, September 26.

Read more:

Who are the Proud Boys and why did Trump tell them to stand by? - The Irish Sun