Los Angeles: Nazi White Supremacists Rally, Counterprotests Get Violent -- R.E.A.L. Condemns Hate and Violence

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2010/04/los-angeles-nazi-rally/

On April 17, 2010, Nazi and white supremacist groups met and rallied in Los Angeles at Los Angeles City Hall, including the Nazi hate group "American National Socialist Movement." The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the "National Socialist Movement" among its Neo-Nazi hate groups. The "National Socialist Movement" is also known as by the acronym NSM, by two former stormtroopers in George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party. Holocaust denier William A. White ("Bill White") was a leader of the NSM until 2006; on April 16, 2010, former NSM leader Bill White was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for making threats.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) states that it is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The NSM logo has elements of the American flag and the Nazi swastika. Among its "national officers and leaders," the NSM "National Party Director" is "Commander Jeff Schoep."

The NSM had announced its Los Angeles event with graphic in flames calling for fellow Nazis and white supremacists to "reclaim the American southwest."

: NSM Los Angeles Event Promotion and Leader Jeff Schoep (Images: YouTube, NSM Web Site)

At the Los Angeles Nazi NSM event, member chanted "Heil Hitler," and gave Nazi salutes to a crowd of counterprotesters.

AFP reported that the event drew about 100 members of the NSM group that was protesting "against immigrants."

AP reported that "about 50 members of the National Socialist Movement waved American flags and swastika banners for about an hour."

: LA NSM Protest (Photo AP: Richard Vogel)

AP also reported that "The white supremacists, many of them wearing flack helmets and black military fatigue uniforms, shouted 'Sieg Heil' before each of their speakers took the podium to taunt counter-protesters with racial, anti-Semitic and misogynistic epithets.... National Socialist Movement regional director Jeffrey Russell Hall announced that the group would begin backing political candidates who agreed with their anti-immigrant message."

: LA NSM Protest (Photo AP: Richard Vogel)

The Nazi white supremacist rally was also promoted by forum members of the "white nationalist hate group" Stormfront, with one Stormfront forum member writing "A new spirit is arising. You can feel it," and another Stormfront forum member mocking the Holocaust as the "Holy Hoax," and providing the image of crematorium with the mocking phrase "Bagel, anyone?" On March 29, 2010, Stormfront forum member Daniel Cowart pleaded guilty to a terrorist plot to murder 102 Americans.

Both the AP and the LA Times reported on violence by counterprotesters against the Nazi NSM rally in Los Angeles:

: NSM Shields to Counterprotests (Photo: AFP)

The LA Times reported that:
-- "While some counter-protesters said they had heard about the event through social media such as Twitter and had come to urge peace in the face of the group's hateful message, others had clearly come for a fight. At least five of them were arrested by the end of the demonstration for throwing eggs and rocks."
-- "Before members of the white supremacist group had arrived, a bare-chested middle-aged man with Nazi insignias tattooed on his chest and back walked into a crowd of hundreds of counter-protesters gathered near 1st and Spring streets."
-- "Surrounded, the man mockingly bobbed his head to the rhythm of demonstrators chanting 'Nazi scum.' About a dozen protesters suddenly began pelting the man with punches and kicks. He fell and was struck on the back with the wooden handle of a protester's sign, which snapped in two. Police eventually reached the man and pulled him from the melee, as blood poured from the back of his neck."
-- "Another man was rushed by a mob on Spring Street. He was punched in the face and kicked for about 20 seconds before police made it to the scene. After that beating was broken up, the man began running south on Spring Street, only to be chased down by a protester and slugged in the face. He collapsed and his face slammed to the curb as protesters began pummeling him again."

: LA Nazi Rally - Man Being Attacked (Photo: AP/Richard Vogel)

AP reported:
-- "There was a brief flare-up of violence before the speakers arrived. A shirtless man was seen being escorted to safety behind police lines by a plainclothes officer as counter-protesters punched and grabbed at him. Blood could be seen at the base of the man's neck."
-- "National Lawyers Guild executive director James Lafferty, who attended both as a legal observer and counter-protester, said he saw the man get into a fight with crowd members who saw his Nazi lightning bolt tattoos."
-- "Police Commander David Doan said a second man who crowd members believed was sympathetic with the white supremacists was also assaulted during the rally. Both men were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released."
-- "As the rally ended, counter-protesters hurled rocks, branches and other items over the police line and into a parking lot where the white supremacists' had left their cars."

: "A woman tries to protect a man (with head down) who was being attacked by counter-demonstrators outside L.A. City Hall." (Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / April 17, 2010)

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) unequivocally condemns both the racial hatred of white supremacist organizations and the mob hatred of counterprotesters who attacked and injured individuals during the LA Nazi rally. Hate is hate. Violence is violence. We can never stop and we can never challenge hate with hate, and we urge that those responsible for violence are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There is no room in America for mob violence that will beat, bludgeon, and bloody those we disagree with, even if they promote ideologies of hate.

We notice that one of the groups in an Associated Press photograph among the counterprotesters included members of the A.N.S.W.E.R. group, Los Angeles chapter. We see nothing today on the A.N.S.W.E.R. Los Angeles web site today disavowing any of their members or supporters involvement in the counterprotest violence. Should we get future updates, we will update this posting. We see that also one of the women in the photograph below near an A.N.S.W.E.R. placard also sought to protect one of the protesters in the LA Times photograph above.

: A.N.S.W.E.R. LA Protesters Challenging Nazi Supporter (Photo: Richard Vogel / AP)

R.E.A.L. has been critical of A.N.S.W.E.R. in the past.

It has been our own experience with our members that A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders and individuals at Washington DC events have sought physical intimidation against R.E.A.L. members at public demonstrations. R.E.A.L.'s founder, Jeffrey Imm, has also been shoved by A.N.S.W.E.R. members at such public demonstrations, and A.N.S.W.E.R. members have tried to physically wrest placards and other protest materials out of his hands. This was at a Washington DC demonstration led by A.N.S.W.E.R.'s Brian Becker.

Law enforcement agency members have advised R.E.A.L. that they have been concerned about A.N.S.W.E.R.'s use of 2x4 wooden planks used to carry placards, which some have feared could be turned into weapons. This is why some law enforcement agencies are particularly concerned about the sticks used to hold placards in public demonstrations.

A.N.S.W.E.R.'s leaders have a history of supporting Communist totalitarianism. A.N.S.W.E.R. currently lists the Marxist organization "Party for Socialism and Liberation" as part of its Steering Committee on its home page web site. A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders have a history of supporting Communist totalitarian China and North Korea. A.N.S.W.E.R. leader have a long history of supporting Communism, with A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders' writings from the Communist Worker's World.

R.E.A.L. rejects A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders' ideological support of Communism and Communist totalitarian governments, and R.E.A.L. rejects the bully tactics and physical intimidation tactics that we have seen ourselves from A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all. We urge white supremacist, Nazi, and supporters of any ideology of hate and violence to drop the burden of the hate of from their hearts, and to learn that violence is never the answer.

Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.