Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stamped out.

-Pierre Berton  















TV PSAs
E-Cards
AAR Radio
www.artistsagainstracism.com

   RACE RIOT IN TOLEDO, OHIO -
 
 
Police began receiving word midweek that gangs were going to descend on a neighborhood where a riot erupted over a planned march by a white supremacist group.

But someone allowed the march to happen anyways.

Angry about this, the riot broke out Saturday when protesters confronted members of the National Socialist Movement who had gathered at a city park. Rioters threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores, and set fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said. More than 100 people were arrested and one officer was seriously injured.

Police said the protest lasted longer and was more intense than expected.

About two dozen members of the supremacist group, which calls itself "America's Nazi Party," had gathered at a city park just before noon Saturday to march under police protection. After rioting started the march was called off.

Authorities want to determine why protesters turned their anger toward police after the Nazi group left, Lucas County Sheriff James Telb said. Officers wearing gas masks fired tear gas canisters and flash-bang devices designed to stun suspects, only to see the groups reform and resume throwing rocks.

People were "highly angry over the idea that someone from outside the community could come in and insult them" in their neighborhood, Mayor Jack Ford said.

Twelve officers were injured, including an officer riding in her cruiser who suffered a concussion when a brick came through a side window and hit her in the head, Lt. Ron Pfeifer said Sunday.

A state of emergency remained in effect through the weekend. About 200 officers patrolled the neighborhood overnight, Navarre said, and police reported no problems. Another overnight curfew was to be in effect starting at 8 p.m. Sunday.

City officials stressed the disturbances were confined to a 1-square-mile area. Police arrested 114 people on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations.

The neighborhood northwest of downtown, full of tree-lined streets and well-kept brick homes, once was a thriving Polish community. But within the last decade it's become home to poorer residents.

A spokesman for the National Socialist Movement blamed police for losing control of the situation.

WilliAnn Moore, president of the Toledo NAACP chapter, had said she worried the march would exacerbate an already tense situation, and urged black youths to ignore the demonstrators. Local leaders were taking steps "so this doesn't turn into some kind of race war," she said.

Only a few people were out Sunday morning raking leaves, walking dogs in a park or going to church.

"This never should have happened," 80-year-old Ed Kusina, who has lived in the neighborhood nearly all his life, said Sunday. "They should have never let them march here."

Rioters set fire to 86-year-old Louis Ratajski's neighborhood pub, Jim & Lou's Bar, but he and his nephew, Terry Rybczynski, escaped the flames.

"I was shaking. I feared for my life," said Rybczynski said.

Keith White criticized city officials for allowing the march: "They let them come here and expect this not to happen?" said White, 29.



AAR PRESS RELEASES
  2003 TV CAMPAIGN    April 18, 2003
  NEW TV ADS    February 3, 2003
  RUSH AUCTION    December 19, 2002
  LOGOS ON MEMBERS' CD JACKETS    November 7, 2002
  ONE HUMAN FAMILY WORKSHOP    April 26, 2002
  AAR SUMMARY SHEET for reporters    February 19, 2002
  OPRAH MAGAZINE AD    February 15, 2002
  2001 GLOBAL TOLERANCE AWARD for AAR    February 10, 2002
  2001 CANADIAN PEACE AWARD    January 31, 2002
  MARY ROBINSON SUPPORTS AAR at WCAR    October 28, 2001
  MATCHBOX 20 and EVERCLEAR film tv psas    October 28, 2001
  VIRAL TV PSA CAMPAIGN    October 27, 2001
  CELEBRITY ACCESS PARTNERSHIP    April 29, 2001
  PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC SPONSORSHIP    April 29, 2001


ARTICLES ABOUT AAR
  TORONTO SUN article    January 2, 2001
  JANE COSMETICS grants AAR $5000 award    January 2, 2001
  ARTISTS AGAINST RACISM HONOURED in INDIANA    January 1, 2001


RACISM IN THE NEWS
  FLORIDA MAN POSSIBLY LYNCHED    July 27, 2003
  ONE WORLD CONCERT    March 18, 2003
  LAWYER ARRESTED FOR WEARING PEACE T-SHIRT    March 5, 2003
  JUDGES TOLD TO CONSIDER RACISM    February 13, 2003
  DAVID DUKE, FORMER KKK LEADER, PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUD    December 19, 2002
  RACIAL PROFILING A WASTE OF TIME    November 9, 2002
  UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO RACIAL STORM    November 7, 2002
  PEACE LOVE CONCERT    July 13, 2002
  JEAN MARIE LE PEN ON A DOWNSLIDE IN FRANCE    May 2, 2002
  TORONTO ARTISTS PROTEST ANTI-SEMITISM IN FRANCE    May 2, 2002
  NAZI DEATH GUARD LOSES AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP    February 23, 2002
  HOLOCAUST DENIER DAVID IRVING LOSES CASE    July 19, 2001
  LEEDS UNIVERSITY CANCELS NAZI MEETING    April 29, 2001
  DAY CARE CENTRE SHOOTER    April 29, 2001
  CONNECTICUT NAZI MEETING    April 29, 2001
  RACIAL PROFILING BILL 788    April 29, 2001
  HOLOCAUST MUSEUM SUMMER JOBS    April 29, 2001
  LEBANON BANS HOLOCAUST DENIAL CONFERENCE    April 29, 2001
  CURRENT HOLOCAUST LAWSUITS    April 29, 2001
  GOVT FUNDED RELIGIONS    April 29, 2001
  NEWS BITES WORTH CHECKING    April 29, 2001
  BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA TRIAL UPDATE    April 29, 2001
  CHILD CARE CENTRE GUNMAN UPDATE    April 29, 2001
  WHITE SUPREMACIST PRISON RIOT    April 29, 2001
  GERMANY WON'T STOP YAHOO AUCTION    April 29, 2001
  HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARY WINS OSCAR    April 29, 2001
  APRIL INTERNET ANTI-FASCIST NEWSBITES    April 29, 2001
  MARCH INTERNET ANTI-FACIST NEWSBITES    April 29, 2001
  Right wing Australian Radio    August 23, 2000
  Austrian Facism    July 14, 2000





Web Site Created by the Students of FPN531 at Ryerson University
Copyright © 2000-2005 AAR Privacy Policy