PHOTOS/JOHN RAMSPOTT
Neo-Nazis, led by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) out of Michigan, held a white supremacist rally in the small Georgia town of Newnan on April 21. The number of Nazis was around 30 or so. The counter-protestors had over a 100 people. But by far the largest group were police officers, numbering in the hundreds. Estimates range from 400 to 700 police officers of various types. Barricades were everywhere in the area of the rally, with a tall fence put around Greenville City Park, where the rally was held. It truly looked like a police state. There were all sorts of heavily armored vehicles and police in riot gear. The number of police was enormous—it felt like a true police state. Even reporters with press passes (like me) were limited as to where they could go. Only people approved by the Nazis were allowed into the park itself. The rest of us were relegated to the same area as the counter-protesters, who were heavily searched before being in the area where they were permitted. Blocking off roads with really big trucks and having a police presence was a good idea. Some barriers were a good idea too. But the severe restriction of movement and not allowing us to get good photographs of the Nazis was over the top. Also, all those armored vehicles driving around was just plain wacky. There is a difference between police presence and police state, and this went way towards a police state.
Counter-protestors consisted of local townspeople objecting to the Nazi presence, Antifa and #BlackLivesMatter. Also, the motorcycle riders were part of a Jewish motorcycle club. While they may look like “bad dudes,” here they were against the Nazis.
The police arrested people for no real reason. A young Latino man “walking while Hispanic” was arrested. He was walking in the street in front of me (past a parked vehicle and crowd of people on the sidewalk) when an officer yelled at us to get back on the sidewalk. José immediately started walking towards the sidewalk, but the officer yelled to another officer to arrest him anyway. Once I passed the car, I got on to the sidewalk, but nobody tried to arrest me (an old white man with a camera and press pass). At the time, there was no traffic on the road but a lot of parked and armored police vehicles.
PHOTOS/JOHN RAMSPOTT
