Feeble Nazi rally in DC.
Matthew X
profrv at nex.net.au
Fri May 14 10:12:56 PDT 1999
http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos12745.html
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/
http://ainfos.ca/index24.html
________________________________________________ I went to my first
anti-nazi demo today. The occasion was the much ballyhooed National
Alliance rally against Israel. The weather was probably the worst it has
been all summer; hot and really humid. The nazis rallied on the front lawn
of the Capitol and the good thing was that the anti-fascists outnumbered
the fascists. There were tons of cops on hand to protect the fascists,
which shows how pathetic these New Age fascists really are. I talked with a
variety of Anti-Racist Action folks, local activists, and people who have
been to many of these recent National Alliance rallies. They were all
pleased with the turnout for our side, which I would estimate at around
300. If you add in the 30 ARA and anarchist activists arrested in Baltimore
this morning, you could say that the turnout was pretty good for such a
miserable day. The veteran organizers said that this was the best turnout
of anti-fascists in several years. The National Alliance had predicted a
turnout in the thousands, but when I counted them at Union Station and
again on the Capitol lawn, I could only count slightly more than 250 of
them. Most of these idiots were men, with half of them being skinheads and
the rest being older, weird looking guys. I don't know, I didn't find these
guys to be that scary, since they wer taunting the crowd from behind lines
of riot cops. The weekend of anti-fascist events kicked off last night,
when several anti-fascists
<http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=27833&group=webcast"> walked
around a neighborhood in Edgewater, Maryland, where they passed out flyers
to the neighbors of Steve Smith, owner of SS Regalia records, which is a
nazi music label. Our guys even ran into Smith when he was jogging, which
prompted him to run for the nearest tree. It seems like this
action--raising awareness about where nazis live--is probably the most
promising counter-fascist organizing tool. Early this morning, a group of
ARA activists jumped a chartered National Alliance bus at a travel plaza
outside of Baltimore, MD. This pre-emptive attack prompted the nazis to
spill out of their bus and start fighting. The cops eventually showed up
and around 30 anti-fascists were arrested. There was quite a turnout of
anti-fascists in front of Union Station, where the police were helping the
NA stage from. Folks were drumming and holding up banners. There was a
pretty big ARA turnout from the East Coast and Midwest. Eventually the
National Alliance marched down the parking ramp with a huge police escort.
At this point I was across the street scouting, which put me in an
interesting spot to watch what transpired ast the nazis marched in front of
the counter-demo. There were lots of words exchanged between both sides.The
anti-facists starting throwing projectiles. I had to move away from the
street because I was in the line of fire. At one point I saw a cop drop a
cobblestone behind his back that had been thrown by our side. I was kind fo
surprised that more shit wasn't thrown, but the police presence was pretty
large. The nazis shouted some really lame stuff at the anti-fascists,
including lame lines like "Go home and smoke your dope" and "Take off your
masks." The nazis marched up Deleware Avenue to the Capitol grounds with a
huge police escort. The anti-fascists marched through the park and end up
between the reflecting pool and the National Alliance rally. Not much
transpired for an hour, other than some skinheads coming down the hill to
incite the anti-fascists. After about an hour, the police marched the
National Alliance back to Union Station where they were run through a
guantlet of anti-fascists. The police were out in force today, both the
Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police. They had two
choppers in the air and their equestrian unit. I spent most of my time
trailing the undercover guys (we got pictures of many of these guys). I
discovered undercover guys from the Fairfax County (VA) and Montgomery
County (MD) police departments. The police were pretty restrained the
entire day, relying on their numbers to intimidate both sides. Still, I
found quite a few weaknesses in their scenario and deployment. It was good
to see so many folks turn out for the counter-protest. I was pretty
disappointed with the poor turnout by the National Alliance. If I had paid
anything for this sorry spectacle, i'd be asking for my money back. The
National Alliance will be having a show tonight at the Armory in Towson,
Maryland. I've been told that quite a few anti-racists will be there to
kick them out of Baltimore. Donate to Infoshop.org:
http://www.infoshop.org/feed_infoshop.html
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