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Neo-Nazi Group Rallies in Downtown Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- A demonstration Saturday by a neo-Nazi group whose appearance in October sparked rioting passed with minor arrests and no violence, disspelling fears of more assaults and vandalism. More than 100 people showed up downtown in 22-degree temperatures to protest against about 60 members of the neo-Nazi group as hundreds of police officers stood watch.

Streets for several blocks near Government Center were cordoned off by patrol cars and concrete barriers. Protesters and counter protesters were directed to fenced-off areas. The white supremacists -- some in brown shirts with red swastika armbands, others in winter clothing -- shouted back and held placards of their own. One read, "White race, stand up and take back your neighborhood.''

Before the rally even got underway, police pulled over a car in west Toledo with Illinois plates. The four people inside were apparently headed downtown to the protest. Inside, police found sling shots, and other items of concern. All four people were arrested.

In a news conference after the rally, police and city officials said there were 25 adults and 4 juveniles arrested, all on misdemeanor charges.  7 people were arrested for violating the protection order signed Friday by a Lucas County Common Pleas judge that limited where people could protest.  In that case, all 7 were at a library branch in west Toledo preparing to rally on their own.

City officials say 3 people were charged with carrying a concealed weapon, and in all cases it was a knife.  The other charges were disorderly conduct and inciting violence.

The Toledo Police Department estimates it paid a total of $300,000 in overtime costs for its own officers, and officers from dozens of other police departments who helped out.

Members of the NSM gathered at City Hall for a rally just two months after a planned march that turned instead into a four-hour riot. The neo-Nazi group says it is protesting the way police and the city handled the October confrontation.  They had come to town saying black gangs had been harassing white residents, and the group hadn't even started marching when counter-protesters starting breaking into businesses and setting fires in the area around Woodward High School in north Toledo.

Police Chief Mike Navarre called off the NSM's October march before it started.  In the four hours after that, people turned their anger on police, throwing rocks and bottles at officers, cars, fire trucks, and a county Life Squad. Police in riot gear responded by lobbing tear gas to break up the crowd. Police arrested 114 people on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations.

All day Friday and into the night, police were busy securing the area around Government Center.  Crews put tarps over windows, placed barricades and fences, and removed all the snow to prevent protesters from using snowballs as weapons.

Religious and political leaders also braved low wind chills to pray inside those fences on Friday evening. Prayerful insurance, they called it, for the rally that they hope no one attends. "We believe our coming together will consecrate this Government Center and that tomorrow there will be peace," said peace activist Rev. Monsour Bey.

"I offer the prayer of St. Francis, that we have to be instruments of peace, each and every one of us," said Bishop Leonard Blair of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. "And we have to pray for God's help to do that."

Weather also played a role in how many people showed up at Government Center to protest against the Nazi rally. October 15th was warm and balmy. December 10th is bitterly cold with snow on the ground. Many people we talked to say they wouldn't venture out to downtown Toledo on a cold day.

Posted by AEB

Sources: WTOL Staff Reports, The Associated Press