Neo-Nazi Group Rallies In Ohio

Members of a neo-Nazi group staged a rally at City Hall on Saturday, two months after plans for an earlier march set off a four-hour riot in which a mob attacked businesses and police.

Hundreds of officers stood guard to make sure there was no repeat of the October melee as about 30 white supremacists shouted at counterdemonstrators and held placards, including one reading "White race, stand up and take back your neighborhood."

More than 100 others showed up in the freezing weather to protest against the members of the National Socialist Movement.

The counterdemonstrators, chanting slogans and carrying signs reading "Go home Nazis" and "Stop the hate now," were kept behind barricades about 75 yards from the area where the neo-Nazis were cordoned off.

After speaking for an hour, the neo-Nazis left in a caravan of cars, escorted by several police cruisers. Authorities reported only minor arrests and no violence.

In October, the neo-Nazis gathered for a march they said was intended to protest gangs and rising crime in a Toledo neighborhood. That plan set off a four-hour riot in which businesses were burned and looted and bricks were thrown at police and an ambulance driver.

This time, the white supremacists said they wanted to protest how police and the city handled the October confrontation.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said about 700 officers from across northern Ohio were stationed through the downtown area, some on horseback. He said gang leaders and community activists had offered assurances their counterdemonstration would be peaceful as long as the neo-Nazis were kept out of predominantly black neighborhoods — a key factor in October's disturbance.

About a dozen counterdemonstrators were arrested for minor offenses, Navarre said.

A judge granted the city's request Friday to block the neo-Nazi group and counterdemonstrators from rallying beyond the grounds of the downtown government building.

That would keep the rally about two miles from the racially mixed neighborhood where the original march was to take place.

Police canceled the October march because, they said, the neo-Nazis tried to change the time and route of their rally. An angry mob looted and burned a corner bar and smashed the windows of a gas station. Twelve officers were injured and 114 people were arrested.