Mayor Blames Gangs for Anti-Nazi Violence
TOLEDO, Ohio - A crowd that gathered to protest a white supremacists' march Saturday turned violent, throwing baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalizing vehicles and stores, and setting fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said.
Mayor Jack Ford blamed the rioting on gangs taking advantage of a volatile situation. He declared a state of emergency, set an 8 p.m. curfew through the weekend, and asked the Highway Patrol for help.
"It's exactly what they wanted," Ford said of the group that planned the march, which was canceled because of the rioting.
At least two dozen members of the National Socialist Movement, which calls itself "America's Nazi Party," had gathered at a city park to march under police protection. Organizers said they were demonstrating against black gangs they said were harassing white residents.
Violence broke out about one-quarter of a mile away along the planned march route shortly before it was to begin. One group of men pounded on a convenience store, and others overturned vehicles. There was a report of a shooting but police hadn't found a victim, Police Chief Mike Navarre said.
For several hours, about 150 police officers chased bands of young men through the area. Officers wearing gas masks fired tear gas canisters and flash-bang devices designed to stun suspects, only to see the groups reform and resume throwing rocks and bottles.
Finally, police marched shoulder-to-shoulder down the street shouting to people to stay inside, and the crowd of several hundred dispersed.
At least two dozen people were arrested on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police and failure to disperse. Several officers and firefighters were injured, Navarre said.
"We frankly could have made a couple hundred arrests easily," he said. He said the white supremacists left shortly after the march was canceled.
The mayor had appealed to residents the night before to ignore the march. He said the city wouldn't give the Nazi group a permit to march in the streets but couldn't stop them from walking on the sidewalks like other citizens.
When the rioting broke out, Ford tried to negotiate with those involved, but "they weren't interested in that."
He said they were mostly "gang members who had real or imagined grievances and took it as an opportunity to speak in their own way."
"I am disappointed that some folks who clearly are not strong citizens to begin with took this opportunity to make this statement," Ford said. "I was chagrined that there were obvious mothers and children in the crowd with them. Several intimated that they had guns."
Thomas Frisch, 76, said a large group of men destroyed the exterior of a gas station next to his home of 30 years.
"A whole big gang started to come in here. Next thing you know, they're jumping on the car. Then they overturned it. Then they started on the building, breaking windows, ripping the bars off," he said.
Keith White, a black resident, criticized city officials for allowing the march in the first place.
"They let them come here and expect this not to happen?" said White, 29.
A spokesman for the National Socialist Movement blamed police for losing control of the situation
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