Police will outnumber neo-Nazis at Newnan rally Saturday
The National Socialist Movement, a far-right hate group that celebrates Adolf Hitler’s birthday, will hold a rally at a park in downtown Newnan on Saturday afternoon. The neo-Nazis expect a turnout of 50 to 100. But they’ll also draw anti-fascist demonstrators as well as hundreds of police officers.
“We will be hitting on all of the hot-button issues,” Burt Colucci, the “chief of staff” for the National Socialist Movement, said. “If it is controversial in America, we gonna talk about it.”
On illegal immigration, for example, Colucci said, “We need to round them up and put them in camps if need be. Like we did the Italians, Germans and Japanese. We are at war with the illegals.”
The neo-Nazis are at war with a lot of people, including about 50,000 people who signed a petition on change.org that opposes the rally permit and urges a massive counter-demonstration.
“They are not welcome,” said Newnan resident Samantha Binion at a press conference this week. “This type of hatred, this type of tyranny, this aggression – I don’t want it in my hometown in Newnan, not in Georgia, not in America, not anywhere.”
City officials said they had no choice but to grant a permit to the group. They said they would close the streets around Greenville Street Park, just a few blocks from Newnan’s court square, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. The rally is to begin at 3 p.m. Police urged people to stay away from the gathering.
» More:the city's preparations and local opposition to the rally.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
