A north Toledo neighborhood was rocked by chaos and violence Saturday afternoon, when a planned neo-Nazi demonstration incited a neighborhood riot against police.

The Nazis – officially known as the National Socialist Movement – came to the neighborhood around Woodward High School to march “against black criminal aggression against white people,” according to Bill White, a spokesman for the group, based in Virginia.

Just after 11 a.m. Saturday, 10 police in riot gear held back an early crowd of roughly 100 protesters on Stickney Avenue who gathered to counter the Nazi’s march, which was scheduled for noon.

The group expected the demonstration to spark violence, because they’ve seen it happen at similar events in other cities, White told The BG News Friday.

“I’ve seen them [protesters] get bored and starting attacking people,” said White, adding that he’s seen NSM members pulled out of their cars in other cities. At the Toledo event, no NSM members were injured or involved in violence, he said.

Only 14 Nazis – including two women and several uniformed young and middle-aged white men – stood and chanted “white power” outside the high school. NSM members present were from Toledo, Dayton and Grand Rapids, Mich.

Nazi chants were countered by local chants of “go home” from a crowd of neighborhood residents, peace activists and other protesters – some of which claimed to be gang members.

Guarded by eight police escorts on foot and four officers on horses, the Nazis raised their arms and shouted in unison, giving the Nazi salute to the crowd of protesters.

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Violence breaks out

At about 11:45 a.m., some in the back of the crowd threw wooden sticks and eggs at the area where Nazis and police were standing. All four officers on horseback came onto the sidewalk near the fence of a home, splitting the crowd before arresting a teenage black male suspected of throwing those objects.

Dewy Edwards, pastor of the Temple of Christ Universal Life Church in Toledo, shook his head in disappointment as the man was arrested.

“I was telling some of the gang members earlier, they need to come together now and support unity,” Edwards said. “They [gangs] are mostly coming together now though, and that’s nice. You notice they’re not really wearing their colors. Everybody’s wearing the white shirts now.” He nodded toward the back of the crowd where several young men stood wearing short sleeve cotton T-shirts. Some also wore red baseball caps or jackets.

As Edwards spoke, a young man behind him yelled to a friend.

“Knock him off that bitch,” he said, referring to the police on horses.

“They’ve got so much hatred built up in their hearts,” Edwards continued. “We’ve got to start teaching love and unity.”

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No one knew Nazis left

Police canceled the Nazi march just before noon, anticipating violence. Some of the crowd followed police through Woodrow Wilson Park, where they escorted the Nazis to their cars and out of the neighborhood.

The other half of the crowd quickly moved around the high school, to the place where Nazis were supposed to be marching.

But few people in the crowd heard any announcement that the Nazi march had been canceled. Instead of meeting Nazis, the growing crowd met about 50 police in full riot gear at the intersection of Mulberry and Streicher streets.

Hostility rose even more when the crowd saw police and no Nazis. The situation quickly became a riot with neighborhood residents and gang members lashing out at police.

Toledo police shouted into megaphones, telling the crowd to get out of the streets and off the sidewalks – but those directions were almost inaudible to the crowd, as a helicopter from the sheriff’s department flew overhead.

The helicopter followed the crowd throughout the incident, to direct police to those areas where the crowds were clustered.

Within minutes, police were launching tear gas at the crowd – which had now grown to include many more residents who walked right off their porches to join the crowd.

People in the crowd then began to throw chunks of crumbled cement from sidewalks and driveways at the police. At least one police officer was sent to a hospital after being struck.

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A neighborhood riot

Though other media outlets have given estimates of the mob crowd ranging up to 750, The BG News cannot confirm such numbers.

Police pushed the crowd back down Mulberry to the intersection with Central Avenue by 12:30 p.m.

A high school-aged black woman heckled two police officers who were driving through the intersection. “Take your bitch asses home,” she yelled, as several others on the corner laughed.

A middle-aged black woman in a gray work suit approached police, yelling in their faces, while a young white man paraded across the street, clad in a bunny rabbit costume mocking police by wearing a police cap.

Resident Ronald Bates lives on Paxton, another street just blocks away from where the chaos first broke out.

“This is some abnormal shit. Truly abnormal,” said Bates, referring to the scene of police shooting tear gas into the crowd. “There’s no Nazis even over here. See any of ’em? There’s no Nazis over here.”

Bates suggested that the city of Toledo should have relocated the march into a non-residential area.

“To allow a hate group to come into an area where there’s already a lot of hate, that’s like pouring gas on an open fire,” he said.

Another resident who lives on Streicher Street is Arthur Blair, an older black man who didn’t have enough time to tie his shoelace before he had to run from the tear gas.

Blair jogged past houses, where people shut their windows and shuttled strangers into their homes to avoid the gas. Rubber bullets were strewn about the sidewalk like black marbles.

“I just hope that nobody starts shooting,” Blair said. “That’s all it’s gonna take is one gun shot, and all these little gang members, they’ve all got guns.”

Resident Alexia Elmore, an older Jewish woman, stood on a stranger’s front lawn with Blair, who was also a stranger to her.

“They [police] threatened to arrest me and everything,” Elmore told Blair. “I was just standing there … not even on the corner, just standing over there by the corner,” referring to the corner of Mulberry and Central.

She said the situation was “much worse” than the riots in the 1960s.

Elmore, who lives blocks away from where the riots took place, said neighborhood gang activity has been reported, but is “way blown out of proportion.”

“You see all these white and black people together out here? Its not as bad as they’re [Nazis] blowing it up to be,” she said.

Elmore added that her grand kids play basketball with alleged gang members near her home.

“I’ve lived here 25 years, and no problems,” Elmore said. “I’m good to the kids, no matter what color they are, and they’re good to me. And this is unnecessary, all these police.”

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Will crime worsen?

A black male wearing red, who referred to himself as “Tear,” claimed that the Nazi demonstration will make the crime in the neighborhood worse.

He blamed government in general for the riot, including police, city council, and the mayor.

“You wanna come and violate us in our own backyards, where our kids and we play at? That ain’t cool,” Tear said. “They just started the biggest problem they ever wanna start. Ya know what? Now we’re gonna give them a job to do. We’ll make the crime rate go up. We’ll make people uncomfortable, cause they wanna make us uncomfortable.”

Tear claimed to be a part of the Black Movement Party. The BMP is “all diverse, Black, White, everybody,” he said. “We ain’t got no racists in us.”

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Nazis respond

Although the Nazis were not present at the riot because they’d been safely escorted out of harm’s way by the police, NSM Spokesman White blamed the Toledo Police for violence, and remains angry that the police canceled the Nazi march.

White called Toledo Police “the most incompetent bunch of bumbling fools I have ever dealt with, and I have been organizing protests for almost 15 years.”

Also, White said there were many more members than the 14 that marched that Toledo Police turned away. He claimed that nearly 80 NSM members showed up for the demonstration.

But despite all his complaints, White said that he considers the Toledo demonstration a success.

“We put more black criminals in jail today than the Toledo Police Department has this year,” White said. “Busloads of black criminals were arrested today.”

The Toledo Police did not returns calls to The BG News last night for this story. The Toledo Police estimated earlier that 60 arrests were made related to the riots Saturday. There was no indication from police as to the races of those arrested.

Following Saturday’s events, Toledo Mayor Jack Ford issued a citywide curfew. Toledo residents could drive the streets, but anyone seen walking after 8 p.m. could be arrested. The curfew ended this morning.

Exact arrest totals were not available as of last night, but a spokesman from the Toledo Police also said that several arrests have been made this weekend for curfew violations.

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Click here to view additional photos from the riots

Related:

Update: BGSU groups avoided rioting

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