The Rise And Stall Of The Fourth Reich | HuffPost Latest News

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. The Nazis were running late.

It was the last weekend of October, and they had rallies planned. But there was some confusion over where to park in Shelbyville, a town of 16,000 in horse country south of Nashville. And it took some time to gear up: the shields and WWII-era helmets, the White Lives Matter signs, the Dixie flags draped over the shoulders just so. The prayer came next.

The Nazis say a prayer #Shelbyville pic.twitter.com/lQhEkUoaj6

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The Nazis say a prayer #Shelbyville pic.twitter.com/lQhEkUoaj6
Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 28, 2017

Finally, Michael Tubbs an imposing former Green Beret who once did a prison stint for plotting to bomb Jewish and black businesses mustered into formation the nearly 200 neo-Nazis, white nationalists, Klansmen, greybeards in Confederate uniforms and a lone Nazi bagpiper. Down a hill this horde marched toward their foe some 400 counter-demonstrators arrayed behind fences across a long intersection.

Close borders! White nation! Now we start the deportation! the Nazis chanted. All piss and vinegar, they. All very Battle of Chickamauga.

Then they ran into security.

The cops were working overtime. Their security wands moved up and down, up and down. Every person needed a metal detector test. Bags were searched. Keychains were confiscated. The Nazis fell silent. Ever so gradually one might say sluggishly the police examined them for weapons and herded them into a fenced-off pen.

This was a costly, and tactical, choice one designed to prevent violence by slow-walking the First Amendment, which guarantees only the right to peaceful public assembly. After Charlottesville , any large gathering of white supremacists carries the obvious potential for mayhem. The police failed spectacularly to prevent injuries and death in Charlottesville. Since then, however, law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions have taken a muscularly bureaucratic approach to maintaining order long lines, checkpoints and French barriers everywhere.

In Tennessee, where several of the same white supremacist groups responsible for Charlottesville assembled last month to further their Amerikaner Reich, the result of the enhanced security was to siphon off the surly energies surrounding the event into various hassles and inconveniences, all superintended by heavily armed cops. And thus a day of demonstrating for and against white supremacy became something more akin to a particularly exasperating visit to the DMV.

In September, when race-baiting former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos spoke at Berkeley, the lines stretched on and on. Cops there subjected each person to a metal detector test. By the time many got in, Yiannopoulos had already left. The whole thing was over before it started at a cost of $800,000 in public money. Berkeley cops appeared to have learned a valuable lesson in stalling after protests over Yiannopoulos first planned appearance on campus in February, which erupted into violence.

In Shelbyville, the police sequestered both sides long before the rally began. Counter-demonstrators entered their fenced-off area from the north. Fascists were funneled toward their holding pen from the south. To get there, they passed through a cop gauntlet. And they waited at the security checkpoint. And waited some more. The result, however, was that the rally, though short-lived, went off without incident. No bloodshed. No violence at all.

Tennessee law enforcement agencies are already talking about letting other states copy their model for keeping the peace. But it turned out there was an earlier blueprint for making hate wait, along with anyone protesting it.

I think they had every horse with four legs still alive in the county in that town.

In March 1999, the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in the 16,000-person city of Defiance, Ohio. Back then, the Klan was throwing rallies almost every weekend in Ohio, and the publics bill for security that year would approach $1 million. Defiance was a major reason for that expense.

The town had steeled itself for an invasion. One longtime anti-fascist activist from Columbus was there that day to confront the Klan. He and scores of counter-demonstrators arrived to find a sealed-off four-block zone and every alley in the city impeded by semi-trailers filled with sandbags. There were more than 250 cops of all variety, including many cops on horses. I think they had every horse with four legs still alive in the county in that town, remembers the activist.

Defiance also helped bring about a new form of crowd control. Until then, most white supremacist rallies featured a stage where racists could fulminate about states rights or Jewish space aliens, and a common audience area where racist supporters might encounter anti-fascists and fights would break out. Defiance had two separate holding pens for attendees, where, according to the activist who attended, the police did the same passive-aggressive slow walking through a security checkpoint, rifling through clothing and bags, even going through peoples cigarette packs looking for joints. Just to completely fuck with you and make it not worth it to show up, he says.

All this for what awaited them on the courthouse steps: a grand total of 41 Klansmen.

If you dont have adequate protection, things get out of hand and you catch a lot of criticism for that, the local sheriff said at the time. If youre adequately prepared, you catch a lot of criticism from people who say its overkill.

It was also, arguably, good business. An Associated Press account of the Defiance rally noted that After years of refinement, [Ohio] now provides an off the shelf plan to communities for dealing with rallies. According to the Columbus anti-fascist, the local sheriff and his law enforcement cronies began franchising their security model and acting as consultants at other Klan rallies. In my opinion, that event accelerated the evolution [of police security practices], the anti-fascist activist said. That and the marketing afterward.

Defiance isnt the only historical precedent. In 2005, the National Socialist Movement staged a march through a mostly black neighborhood in Toledo and shouted slurs at members of the community. Locals rioted and scuffled with police. Some looting and arson ensued. Two months later, the Nazis came back for a rally. This time, a small army of some 700 cops from 15 agencies were waiting for them and any counter-demonstrators. The rally area was locked down. Barricades everywhere. People couldnt move freely. Fewer than 200 people ended up attending. Toledo wound up with a $300,000 bill for police overtime.