Neo-Nazi Rallies Provoke 'Anger, Fear' : NPR

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Neo-Nazi Rallies Provoke 'Anger, Fear'

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November 7, 2009 from

The National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, is holding two rallies in Arizona and Minnesota on Saturday to demonstrate against illegal immigration. Similar rallies in Riverside, Calif., near Los Angeles, have led to violent clashes with counter-protesters.

Late last month, a rally near a day-laborer site in Riverside attracted about two dozen members of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), who wore World War II-era Nazi garb. They were outmatched by about 700 counter-protesters.

The two sides were separated by dozens of police officers in riot gear. NSM members taunted counter-protesters with racist epithets. Fights broke out and several counter-protesters hurled rocks and bottles. The neo-Nazis left 3 hours later, under police escort.

Counter-demonstration organizer Kevin Akin helped mobilize over 50 community and religious organizations against the NSM.

"The broader the resistance is to the Nazis, the more difficult it is for them to find specific targets. We're hearing only irritation, anger and fear from the community," Akin says. "The fact is, when the come to Riverside, their enemy is the whole community."

The National Socialist Movement is known for provocative confrontations.

The group's Web site called counter-protesters an unruly mob of "Mexicans, Jews and homosexuals."

NSM members, meanwhile, are depicted in strictly heroic terms.

"They're proud of who they are, tired of white guilt being shoved on their kids and multiculturalism. They can't ...

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