SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco Police Department is gating off Alamo Square Saturday morning, hours before a nationalist group was to hold a controversial press conference.

Organizers of the “Patriot Rally” cancelled their original event scheduled for today at Crissy Field because it “felt like a set up.”

Joey Gibson from the Patriot Prayer group spoke with KRON4 live on air Saturday morning.

He says cancelling the event was a tough decision. “I’ve never cancelled an event in my entire life,” Gibson said.

But in the end, he didn’t think the event would be safe.

After making this decision, the press conference at Alamo Square became the group’s new plan.

However, police have gated off until further notice.

By 11:00 a.m. police closed the entire park, and are asking the public to avoid the area as large crowds of demonstrators accumulate.

SFPD said in a statement:

As of 11 a.m. this morning, Alamo SquarePark is closed. The San Francisco Police Department has an enhanced presence at Alamo Square and in the surrounding neighborhoods. We will continue to evaluate situations as they evolve and make decisions based on the safety of the public.”

Now that police have closed off the area, Gibson says he’s “not going to have any rallies here.”

“I feel like everything’s kind of out of my control right now,” he said.

Gibson tells KRON4 that he believes people will still be showing up to Crissy Field, but on their own.

He plans on being around to talk to people and the press, but is not going to lead any rallies today.

Gibson wrote an apology for the cancellation on Facebook: