PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Hatred has its consequences
by af Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005 at 4:48 PM

A state of emergency was declared in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday following to rioting that resulted in over 100 arrests.

A state of emergency was declared in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday following to rioting that resulted in over 100 arrests. The riots followed a demonstration by 10 to 20 members of a neo-nazi group, which was met by hundreds of counter-protesters. The Associated Press reports that the Toledo police expected gang members to turn out in force, presumably to oppose the march. The nazis billed the march as a national socialist march against gang violence.

According to WTOL, the Toledo police chief canceled the march and the nazis left in their cars when counter-protesters took over several streets. Toledo Mayor Jack Ford tried to diffuse the crowd but was confronted by gang members who had “long standing grievances.”

Community groups attempted to avoid just this type of confrontation by organizing a diversity celebration called Erase-the-Hate. Diversity celebrations are a popular community response to hate group demonstrations, but this time the coalition of 20 community organizations did not succeed in drawing the spotlight away from the hate group.

Five regional chapters of Anti-racist Action and other antifascist groups joined with large numbers of community members, and at least 500 counter-demonstrators met the nazis. The Lucas County Sheriff said he is unsure how the rioting started. But the weblog account by the One People’s Project has a different story. It attributes the start of the riot to the aggressive methods used by police against the anti-fascists.

The Toledo Blade suggests that rioting was caused by gang members who were not directly involved in the counter-protest. Following the riot, 200 police officers patrolled the neighborhood overnight, which was locked down with an 8 PM curfew. Another 8 PM curfew was enforced on Sunday night.

Sources:
http://www.onepeoplesproject.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=835&Itemid=2
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=3981004
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/NEWS16/51016003

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