Immigrants Are Welcome Here. Nazis Are Not. (tags)
October 24, 2009
RIVERSIDE, California - In Southern California's largest antifascist action in recent memory, a diverse group of between 400 and 500 protesters held a demonstration against a group of 16 neo-Nazis from the National Socialist Movement in the Casa Blanca barrio of Riverside. The NSM sought to target the day laborers who congregate outside the Home Depot at the corner of Indiana and Madison to exercise their right to free speech and look for work, but the community denied them any opportunity to put their genocidal ideology into practice. Despite efforts to contain the throng to sidewalks behind metal barriers, thrice the activists pushed forth their demands by taking over the street--in outright defiance not only of the police, who numbered well over 50, but also of protest organizers' pre-established rules of conduct. The day saw two arrests of anti-Nazi demonstrators criminalized for defending their community, and several activists reported being pushed and struck by police batons.