Nazis flee mass anger in Washington, D.C.
By
Malcolm Cummins
Washington
A mass mobilization of over 1,000 anti-fascist demonstrators
forced a neo-Nazi group to cancel its plans for an Aug. 7 march
on Washington.
The Knights of Freedom had threatened to bring hundreds of
fascists to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
In the end, only four of them showed up at a police-staging
area--to announce that they were calling off the march out of
fear of the counter-demonstrators.
The counter-demonstrators were mobilized by an ad-hoc
coalition of many groups, including Anti-Racist Action,
Positive Force and the International Action Center.
The over 1,400 Washington police who had been mobilized to
protect the cowardly fascists were left to stand around and
aimlessly swing their billy clubs. The scene resembled the
situation in 1990, another time the cops came out in force to
protect the Ku Klux Klan.
Streets were closed for one block on each side of the march
route. A phalanx of police was supposed to encircle the Nazis
as they marched.
After the counter-demonstration, Washington Police Chief
Charles Ramsey, who was dressed for the occasion in full riot
gear, faced hostile questions about the cost of the "protect
the Nazis at all costs" operation.
Ramsey acknowledged that the city would be out more than $1
million dollars to protect Nazis who never even showed up. By
demanding that the federal government pick up the tab, city
officials tacitly acknowledged that federal officials had put
pressure on the city to protect the racist thugs.
Many were outraged at the high cost of police protection.
D.C. is going through a severe financial crisis. Many social
services have been cut and workers laid off.
When it came to protection for the Nazis, however, no
expense was spared.
Nina Posidelova, from the International Action Center and a
D.C. resident, expressed the anger many felt: "The city could
have rebuilt one of the public schools for less than the amount
spent on police protection for a group of thugs.
"It seems that the government is willing to go to any
lengths to protect fascist thugs--whether it's in D.C. or in
Kosovo, where they are protecting the Kosovo Liberation Army
while it slaughters innocent civilians."
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