Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, at Mosque Maryam Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In anticipation of a rally being held on the Mall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March on Saturday, the intelligence office of the U.S. Capitol Police sent out an e-mail warning its 1,800 officers of the potential for violence. The U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine has responded by distancing himself from the newsletter that is being derided as alarmist “race-baiting.” Meanwhile, the Office of Police Complaints says it will be monitoring the rally—but keeping an eye on how the Metropolitan Police Department’s officers behave.

The e-mail, sent out through a newsletter last month and obtained by the Washington Post, warned that “given today’s negative racial climate and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, there are legitimate concerns that the second march may not be as peaceful.”

The e-mail focused on Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who lead the call for the Million Man March in 1995 as well as the rally this weekend being called “Justice or Else!” It warns that Farrakhan “has been accused of inciting violence against both Caucasians and police officers.”

Nation of Islam told the Post they expect a peaceful event this weekend and they don’t anticipate quite the numbers they had twenty years ago on October 16, 1995. The event’s organizer Benjamin Chavis Muhammad didn’t respond specifically to the e-mail except to say, “We stand on our track record. At the Million Man March there were no incidents. At the Million Family March, there were no incidents.”

The union representing U.S. Capitol Police officers was more blunt and called the e-mail “race-baiting.” James Konczos, president of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, told the Post, “You can’t have people putting out inflammatory comments and not hold them accountable.”

The Office of Police Complaints, which is a watchdog for MPD and the D.C. Housing Authority’s Office of Public Safety, said it is sending out four teams between the Lincoln Memorial and U.S. Capitol to monitor D.C. Police’s response to the rally. The teams will be identifiable with black and silver jackets with OPC on the back and they will include OPC executives, attorneys, and investigators who are armed with audio and video recorders. Michael G. Tobin, the office’s executive director, said, in a statement, “By monitoring the police response of those attending the Justice or Else gathering, the community can feel comfortable that everyone will be allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights.”

The focus of this rally is police violence against black men and a failing education system. In a preview of the rally last June, Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, told the Washington Post, “We are in fact giving an ultimatum: justice or else. We are no longer looking for symbolic victory. We are looking for substance. . . . We are not [terrorists], we are citizens who have been terrorized.”

Jon Ritzheimer, an anti-Muslim organizer based in Phoenix, has called for protests to coincide with the Nation of Islam rallies. He said, according to the Post: “We have people that are coming from these mosques killing people, so [we’re telling people to bring] a weapon just to protect yourself.”

Justice Or Else! rally is being held on the Mall on Saturday. The program begins at 10 a.m.

Here’s what the march looked like in 1995: