Neo-Nazi rally in Ga. draws protests

With heavily armed riot police looking on from behind barricades, anti-fascist demonstrators held signs and chanted Saturday to protest a rally by neo-Nazis in Newnan, Ga.

It appeared to be the largest face-off between the groups since clashes at Charlottesville, Virginia, last year that left one person dead.

Members of Antifa, the loose-knit anti-fascist movement, gathered along the sidewalks on streets leading to Greenville Street Park where the rally by the National Socialist Movement was set to begin at mid-afternoon.

At the outset of the gathering, police said they arrested about 10 anti-fascist demonstrators, some reportedly for for wearing masks.

One protester held a sign that read, “You can shoot us, you can run over us, but your side always loses.”

At one point, the crowd, many dressed in black, chanted, “All power to the people.”

City workers had blocked off several streets with barriers and surrounded the park with barricades topped with chain-link fencing.

Police allowed protesters onto the sidewalks of the barricaded streets after frisking them at entry points.

Inside the designated area, police in riot gear formed a barrier between counterprotesters and the fence sealing off the park behind them.

At the outset of the protest, Christopher Mathias, a reporter for HuffPost, tweeted video showing police in riot gear tackling and arresting several protesters. The police moved members of the media away from the area, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Shortly after 4 p.m., about 60 neoNazis were allowed into the park through a passageway opened by police in the fence.

About 30 people took the stage at the pavilion, displaying flags.

To an audience of about a dozen, along with members of the media, NSM leader Jeff Schoep railed against the anti-fascist groups, blaming them for violence in Charlottesville. The members of the NSM, he said, are the ‘true patriots.”

“We will not back down,” Schoep said.