White supremacist rally ends with five arrests and two assaults, police say [Updated]

 
A white supremacist rally on the lawn of Los Angeles City Hall ended with a handful of arrests Saturday afternoon as counter-protesters showered police and white supremacists with rocks, bottles and other debris.

[Updated at 4:50 p.m.: All five people arrested were counter-protesters, police say.]

A rally by 40 members of a group calling itself the National Socialist Movement drew hundreds of counter-protesters from throughout the region. In the hours leading up to the rally, where members called for the removal of all nonwhites from America's southwest, counter-protesters scuffled with people perceived to be sympathizing with the white supremacists' message.

One man, who sported Nazi tattoos, was severely beaten near City Hall while another man, who carried a confusing sign about religion with a scribbled swastika, was pummeled by a mob of people on Spring Street between 1st and 2nd.

The Los Angeles Police Department went on tactical alert during the event and took responsibility for escorting the white supremacists to and from the demonstration site. Earlier in the week the group had obtained a permit for the demonstration.

At the end of the rally, after 2:30 p.m., police escorted the white supremacists to the criminal courts building parking lot to get in their vehicles. However, one car failed to start. A crowd of counter-demonstrators ran to the lot and began hurling rocks and bottles into the parking lot's southwest corner, hitting cars and shattering glass. As some of the white supremacists held shields emblazoned with swastikas over their heads to protect them from the projectiles, others attempted to jump-start the car. 

The LAPD then order the crowd to disperse and reopened the streets.

Commander David Doan said the LAPD's goal was to ensure that everyone was allowed to exercise free speech while avoiding any use of force by officers. “There was a tremendous amount of restraint shown by our officers,” he said. “We allowed both sides to exercise their 1st Amendment rights.”

Doan said it was a frustrating situation for LAPD officers. “We took some rocks and bottles when they arrived and we took some again when the car had some trouble starting.”

The two people assaulted in the crowd have been treated for their injuries and released, Doan said. The LAPD is not providing a crowd estimate, but Doan said the department had more than enough officers on hand.

The department issued a tactical alert as a precaution, Doan said, to ensure it had adequate staffing. “I am very happy. Our people did an outstanding job,” the incident commander said.

-- Richard Winton and Robert Faturechi

Photo: White supremacists rally on the lawn of Los Angeles City Hall. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Blues353]

Wow, no film camera footage links. LA Times must really be pinching video budget pennies. This spells doom by obfuscation, typical of dinosaur media.

[John]

These people make all of us, (who oppose amnesty for illegal aliens), look bad...but then, maybe that's the ploy. (especially given the timing).

[SA]

I guess we now know the difference between a TEA Party protest and a white supremacist protest.

[Osamas Pajamas]

"Racism," said novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand, "is the lowest form of collectivism." The antidote to collectivism is individualism --- a philosophy far more at home in conservative and libertarian circles than among the Democrat party and their miscellaneous left-wing apologists and hangers-on. Not surprisingly, the Democrats portray these white supremacists, white racists, and National Socialists [Nazis] as "right-wing" phenomenona --- a lie intended to divert the unobservant away from the philosophical premises which all of these anti-individualists share. They are all statists and they share a mutual contempt for The Rights of Man --- life, liberty, private property, and the pursuit of personal happiness.

[carnegie]

You don't see the whites throwing rocks and pummeling people when the mexicans do march and protest.

[DaleW]

And yet the violence comes from the predictable side, even with these lowlifes! Amazing!

[Jay]

I am a conservative, I am part of the TEA Party movement, but these neo-Nazis are absolute imbeciles. First of all, they are too stupid to realize that Adolf Hitler was a leftist who hated capitalism. On May 1, 1927, Hitler said in a speech that "we are socialists, we are the enemies of capitalism".

These idiot white supremists are worshipping Hitler and the Nazi movement for only one reason, he was a racist anti-semite. Outside of that, these morons in the white supremist movements are just too dumb to realize that Hitler and the Nazis radical leftism would have stood for everything they detest, except racism and anti-semitism. These morons do not realize that Nazi means National Socialism. I have yet to meat a white supremist with an IQ higher than a city speed limit.

[SpringerRider]

National Socialists and socialists in general have always been about racism. Liberals claim to care about minorities but they promote abortion for the same reason that Margret Sanger did when she founded planned parenthood. To cleanse the race of undesirables. That is why so many progressives are atheists.

Christianity sees all of God's creatures as precious.

[Peter]

The race war's on its way...

[jk]

Dose the group fromerly known as Acorn and SEIU have no shame? Dressing up as NAZI's? Come on that is taking it a abit far, but then again you were willing to look the other way at child prostitution. What next?

[Frank]

How tolerant of the counter-protesters to commit assault and battery. What a wonderful celebration of diversity. It's so beautiful. Diversity is a strength and California is the strongest state. I love this country.

[Jerry]

Was it worth it, neo-nazis in Los Angeles is a stupid place to be. I'll give'em credit, they had the guts to protest and at least they are honest about their intentions and don't hide behind groups like the Tea Party movement. Am I saying that all Tea Party members are racist? Not all but some. What a coincidence that they formed after Obama became President.

[Paralegal Los Angeles.Com]

Always buy the good batteries for your transportation machinery. That's the moral of this story. If you're going to go to war, you need well maintained, high quality transportation.

There should have been much more photographs of this story.

I want to sincerely thank both sides in this skirmish. Please keep the LAPD busy with these types of politico-cultural events so there will be less police presence here in Playa del Rey and I can enjoy my Saturday in peace.

[Sam Adams]

Why put the cops lives in danger? If the Neo- nazis are stupid enough to spout that kind of rhetoric in downtown LA then get let the police stay out of it and let the two sides go for it? Good way to get rid of a bunch of troublemakers? I would pay to see that!!!! lol

[Lou]

How Shocking!!
Well, maybe not that shocking. After all, I once made a small movie about it, and it is still relevant today, it seems:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05VEkQBWQw&feature=channel

[Al in SoCal]

I'm sure all the haters will be on soon trying to distance themselves from the neo-nazis. Sorry to say that all hate is the same whether your "swastika" is on a tattoo on your arm - or the thoughts in your head. It's a formula really:

1. First dehumanize the group you are targeting by finding some name for them like "illegals"
2. Talk about how different they are from you
3. Agree vigorously w/ statements like "why can't they learn English" or "they are sucking our tax dollars"

You're now on your way to full neo-nazi status. Don't think you are different because you are not.

[klg1956]

Seems like old times doesn't it? We vote for and elect a man claiming to work for the better of the country to work to bring the country together, claiming to work together on both sides of the isle, claiming to meet everyone in the middle, claims to bring everyone "in the world" together and months later, everyone is at everyone's throat, riots, unrest, divide, just like the 60's........so it seems the Democrat party of nice, the party of love, the party of the all inclusive big tent and togetherness is in all actuality the party of separation, division, segregation, the party of divide, the party of clashes and the party of our country's undoing. If we can survive the 60's mentality (Obama and all his cronies) and all the 60's smart asses who are elected to office, we'll be just fine when they are no longer running/ruining our country...soon real soon, we'll be free of the 60's, the "age of aquarius", "America's age of enlightenment"; and then we'll pray thanking God almighty, that we are free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we'll be free at last.

[garagehero]

The teabaggers, just like the minutemen, nothing but a bunch of welfare & workers comp cheats, underemployed & unemployed drunk drug-addled slackers!!!

[Keir]

My hat goes off to the LAPD who must have had an hell of a time dealing with this melee whilst acknowledging the 1st Amendment. Reading about people tattooed with NSDAP symbols and another carrying "a confusing sign about religion with a scribbled swastika" hardly presents normal human beings with a coherent, persuasive argument. I'm a bit curious though as to why an Hitlerjugend flag figures so prominently is shown in the photograph, although my guess is that these people will take any Nazi symbol and use it without bothering to understand its significance.
www.tracesofevil.blogspot.com

[Marc Jeric]

Nazis and commies belong to the same far-left crowd; but the nazis are amateurs while the commies are professional grade. Hitler murdered 6 million Jews and about 15 million others; Stalin murdered 60 million.

[Matt]

This is an interesting event. We have a group of Race Based Socialists demonstrating in LA, and then we have a bunch of Race Based Marxists show up and start violence. Interesting that we have two wings of what can be seen as the race hate based historic origins of the Democrat Party being confronted with the new brand of race hate in the Democrat Party.
Interesting to say the least. Statists vs. Collectivists (same thing really). It reminds me very much of the violence that happened in Early/Mid 20th Century Europe, where you had one Statist Group, Nazis, fighting another Statist group, Marxist/Communists, and if you looked at the fundamentals of the Govt Structure that each proposed, they were nearly identical. The big difference between the two was really only about what person was in charge of the Overarching Power of the State, despite the fact each was advocating the same brand of Overarching State Power.

What is really most interesting here too, is it was NOT the Neo-Nazis (those tagged as "violent hate mongers") who got arrested! Those arrested were from the "tolerant, open-minded" side of the argument!

[se acabo]

I wouldn't worry about these skinheads. The illegal Mexicans outnumber them 5 million to one. Demographics is destiny and the Mexicans shall inherit the earth - or at least the USA.

[Reinhard Heydrich]

These Supremacist guys are total idiots. Having said that, they as National Socialists are EXACTLY politically identical to the democrat party and the people beating them up yesterday. They want National Socialization of Industry, banking , and health care...a paramilitary force directly serving under the president, and seek out marginalization and punishment of a class and race, while democrats want all the same including suppression of a class of people (white people that are tea partiers). Anyone remember history when post WWI Germany lost all, had a huge financial meltdown? Well it was the Nazis and the Socialists fighting it out. The Nazis won. But the two groups were virtually identical. This LA protest was a micro replay. Good luck America. Democrat Nazis will be doing the Gestapo knock on your door soon.

[kuruc]

so who are the real animals in this little play?too bad this did not take place in arizona. many of the "counter-protesters" would not be with us tonight due to their lack of decour. looks like FREE expression of ideas is death in this countryno one cares what the other side saysso ideas can be exchanged. its my way only.amrica has imploded run for the hills.

[jmcaul]

Oh well, I guess this just goes to show: what goes around comes around. Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost.