What Went Wrong?

As thousands of black men, women and children met peacefully in the Nation’s Capitol Saturday to rally toward self help, hundreds of blacks in Toledo, Ohio ended up rioting in the streets after coming out to protest a planned neo-Nazi group’s march against “black crime” in the city.


Some of the roughly 600 people on hand to protest the white supremacists threw rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores and cursed out Toledo Mayor Jack Ford for allowing the march in the first place. Ford believes the violence was sparked by gang members who were taking advantage of an already volatile situation.

Police and SWAT teams swooped in and arrested at least 60 people (43 adults and 17 juveniles) on such charges as assault, vandalism, failure to obey police and failure to disperse before calm was restored four hours later. A state of emergency was declared and an 8 p.m. curfew was enacted through the weekend.


"It's exactly what they wanted," Ford said of America's Nazi Party, the self-imposed nickname of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) group that planned the march. NSM organizers said it had received support from Toledo's white citizens and community activists.

At least 24 NSM members gathered at a city park to march under police protection. Organizers said they were demonstrating against black gangs they said were harassing white residents. The march, scheduled for noon, ended up being canceled because of the rioting that ensued. None of the NSM’s 80 members who showed up to participate was arrested, according to the group’s spokesman, Bill White.


Shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday, a dispatcher reported that gang members wearing colors were gathering along Stickney, Central, and Ketcham avenues. By 11:15 a.m., police had already reported the throwing of rocks. Along Stickney Avenue, as mounted patrol officers pushed back the crowd off the sidewalk, irate residents began screaming at passing police.

“Which side are you on?” yelled one woman. “I don’t see you pushing any Nazis back!”

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.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said about 150 officers chased groups of young men through the area. Officers wearing gas masks fired tear gas canisters and flash-bang devices designed to stun suspects, but the groups continued throwing rocks and bottles. Several officers and firefighters suffered minor injuries, Navarre said.


Finally, police marched shoulder-to-shoulder down the street shouting to people to stay inside, and the crowd dispersed.


White blamed the riot on Toledo police, saying they intentionally changed the group's march route to ensure it collided with a counter-demonstration. White said that about 20 members from pro civil rights groups International Socialists Organization and One People's Project showed up, and some handed eggs to African-American residents to throw at the Nazi marchers.


Most of the violence happened when residents, who had pelted the Nazi marchers with bottles and rocks, turned their anger on police, said Brian Jagodzinski, chief news photographer for CNN affiliate WTVG.


"The crowd was very ... extremely agitated at the police ... for doing this [making arrests in] the community when they should be doing this to the Nazis," Jagodzinski said.