Mayor says neo-Nazis had right to march

Arraignments began today for some of the 114 people arrested after weekend violence triggered by a white supremacist group’s march along the sidewalks of a racially mixed neighbourhood in Ohio, USA.

A melee broke out on Saturday when protesters confronted members of the National Socialist Movement who had gathered at a city park.

“They do have a right to walk on the Toledo sidewalks,” Mayor Jack Ford said.

An angry mob, some of them gang members, threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalised vehicles and shops and set fire to a bar.

More than 100 people were arrested and one officer was seriously injured.

The march was called off after the rioting started.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said today there had been no trouble since Saturday.

“After the four-hour disturbance ended, we have not had a problem in the neighbourhood since,” Navarre said.

Police arrested 114 people on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations.

Twelve police officers were injured, including one who suffered a concussion when a brick came through a side window of her cruiser and hit her on the head.

Arraignments began this morning in Municipal Court for some of those arrested.

A judge set bail at just over €7,300 for defendants accused of aggravated riot.

Much of the anger erupted because residents were upset that city leaders allowed about a dozen white supremacists to walk through the neighbourhood and shout insults.

“They don’t have the right to bring hate to my front yard,” said Terrance Anderson, who lives near the bar that was destroyed. Three other businesses were looted or damaged.

Others joined the mayor in saying the neo-Nazis had the right to march. “Too bad the people couldn’t ignore them,” said Dee Huntley.

The disturbances were confined to a 1-square-mile area, police said. At one point, the crowd grew to about 600 people.

Nearly all of the violence ended by late Saturday afternoon, and police set an evening curfew for the city through to this morning.

The neighbourhood north-west of downtown once was a thriving Polish community. Now it’s a mix of Hispanic, Polish and black residents, many of them poor living in modest homes.

Police began hearing in the middle of last week from officers on the street that gangs planned to descend on the neighbourhood, the police chief said.

“We knew during the preparation that it was going to be a tremendous challenge,” Navarre said. “Anyone who would accuse us of being underprepared I would take exception with that.”

However, he said the protest lasted longer and was more intense than expected.

Authorities delayed releasing the route of the march so protesters wouldn’t have advance notice of where the demonstration would take place.

Community leaders organised an “Erase the Hate” rally to draw people away from the march. And the mayor spoke to 2,000 people at a Baptist church on Friday night, urging them to ignore the neo-Nazis.

A spokesman for the National Socialist Movement accused police of losing control of the situation.

The neo-Nazi group came to the city, which relies heavily on the motor industry and has high unemployment in minority neighbourhoods, because of a dispute between neighbours, one white and the other black.

“This is not a police problem,” Navarre said. “This is a social problem.”