Missouri NSM March: Location

Police say to ignore neo-Nazi protest
By KATIE FRETLAND and VANJA PETROVIC

March 6, 2007


Police from Columbia and other jurisdictions have developed a plan to maintain order during this weekend’s planned neo-Nazi march, while community leaders are formulating a civic response, including declaring a day of tolerance.

At a community meeting at the Columbia Police Department headquarters Monday, Columbia police Capt. Tom Dresner urged members of the public to ignore Saturday’s march. The purpose of the National Socialist Movement’s event, he said, is to incite violence from counterprotesters and draw attention to their efforts to recruit new members.

A “significant” police presence will be involved in keeping peace at the event, including motor and mounted officers from the Columbia police, crisis negotiation team members and SWAT team officers, Dresner said.

Other law enforcement agencies who will be present include the Boone County Emergency Response Team, the MU Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The FBI will also notify Columbia police if any of the neo-Nazi group members are wanted for crimes, Dresner said.

The march, according to the group’s permit, will start Saturday at Seventh and Elm Streets and cover an area bounded by Hitt Street, University Avenue and Ninth Street at any time from noon to 5 p.m.

Steven Boswell, the leader of the Missouri chapter and a sergeant in the organization, said the group will protest what it says is MU’s promotion of “homosexuality, immigration, degradation and destruction of society.” About 20 to 50 people will participate in the march, according to the permit.

Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said the demonstrators probably will march in uniform and yell racial slurs. Neo-Nazi groups do not usually carry weapons during demonstrations and will instead leave their weapons in their cars before marching, Potok said.

Police said the demonstrators must keep moving and not stop to confront counterdemonstrator s.

“Yes, counterdemonstrate. Just don’t do it where (the neo-Nazis) are,” Potok said. “You have to do something. If you do nothing, these groups take it as a sign of local support and may come back.”

In 2005, the organization marched in Toledo, Ohio, when police lost control of the city to rioters for four hours. Counterprotesters threw bricks at police and set a building on fire. Over 100 counterprotesters were arrested and none of the neo-Nazis were arrested, Dresner said.

Police encouraged residents in Columbia to follow how citizens

of Orlando, Fla., reacted to a similar demonstration in 2006, when residents organized peaceful alternative events away from the march and only 17 people were arrested.

Dresner declined to reveal the number of officers who will monitor the march because he said those details will only help the neo-Nazi group.

“They say they want to protest the promotion of Marxism at MU. We all know better. They want to cause a confrontation that in their best-case scenario causes us to be at odds with the minority communities especially,” Dresner said.

Community leaders packed a conference room at the Police Department on Monday afternoon to discuss options for how to keep community members safe, specifically teenagers who might want to confront the neo-Nazi group.

Mary Ratliff, president of the Missouri chapter of the NAACP, suggested a rally on the steps of the Boone County Courthouse to begin at the same time as the march.

“While you are out there marching and being ignorant, we are going to stand together and say you’re not welcome here,” Ratliff said. “We have to confront those people. You have to be willing to give up your safety for freedom. I am aghast at hiding while the neo-Nazis march. What I am asking for is for us to be visible.”

Mayor Darwin Hindman said he would declare Saturday a Tolerance Day, while organizations planned ways to counteract the effect of the march.

Roger Worthington, chief diversity officer at MU, said the Jewish Student Organization has set up a Web site at tolerance.homestead .com where residents can pledge money for charities for every minute the march lasts.

ParentLink, a Columbia-based parenting service group, is making a flyer in Spanish and English to distribute to parents with information on how to teach their children to deal with hate.

Other proposed events include a gathering with food and music at Douglass Park at the same time as the march.

Over 500 students at MU joined a group on facebook.com to protest the march peacefully, but changed the purpose of the group and called for no protest.

“The community should not engage,” said Karen Aroesty, the regional director for Missouri and Southern Illinois of the Anti-Defamation League. “The last thing you want is someone who thinks they can get into a conversation with a white separatist and think they’ll change someone’s mind.”

Missourian reporter Alex Luft contributed to this report.