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Over 100 Arrested in Toledo, Ohio After Neo-Nazi March Prompts
Counter-Protest & Riot
The Grapple in the Big Apple: British MP George Galloway
v. Christopher Hitchens
Over 100 Arrested in Toledo, Ohio After Neo-Nazi
March Prompts Counter-Protest & Riot
Over one hundred people were arrested this weekend in Toledo,
Ohio after a riot broke out in the North section of the city
where a Neo-Nazi group planned to march through a predominately
African-American neighborhood.
On Saturday, a neo-Nazi rally was planned by a group known
as the "National Socialist Movement." The spokesman
for the group, Bill White, said they were invited to come
to the area by a white resident who complained to them about
"black criminal behavior."
The Nazis planned to march through a predominately African-American
neighborhood but authorities called it off when a large counter-demonstration
assembled in response. The two sides hurled racial insults
at each other for more than hour and then, Police allege,
counter-demonstrators started to hurl rocks at the Nazis.
The Police then called off the Nazi march but the violence
escalated. By Sunday night, 114 people were arrested on charges
that included rioting, burglary, felonious assault and carrying
a concealed weapon.
To talk more about this, we are joined from Toledo, Ohio,
by Pastor Mansour Bey. He is a minister at Toledo's First
Church of God.
- Mansour Bey, Pastor at the First Church of God.
We want to go back to the late 1970s when a small group of
neo-Nazis announced their intention to hold a uniformed rally
in a small Illinois suburb. This is an excerpt of an audio
documentary produced by Adi Gevins and Kathy McAnally, producers
for Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California. It's
called "The Right to be Wrong: Free Speech for Extremist
Groups"
The case made its way to the Supreme Court which ruled 5-4
to uphold the Nazi's right to march through downtown Skokie.
That was an excerpt of the audio documentary "The Right
to be Wrong: Free Speech for Extremist Groups."
The Grapple in the Big Apple: British MP George Galloway
v. Christopher Hitchens
We play an extended portion of this historic debate between
two of Britain's most fiery orators recorded last month in
New York. The two debate the Iraq invasion, Saddam Hussein,
the Bush administration, Palestine and more. In Iraq, the
country's referendum on a draft constitution is being called
into question after the country's electoral commission announced
it will audit what it calls "unsually high" voting
results. Sunni leaders have alleged widespread electoral fraud,
citing allegations of ballot-stuffing and unlawful absentee
voting.
Saturday's nation-wide poll was hailed by the White House
as an another step towards democracy in Iraq and a vindication
of the 2003 invasion and continued occupation by US forces.
For the rest of the hour we want to turn to a debate over
the war in Iraq. It features British antiwar MP George Galloway
against columnist and author Christopher Hitchens. It was
held last month last month here in New York City. The match-up
was an eagerly anticipated one. In the run-up to the debate
the Guardian newspaper of London wrote "Not since the
Rumble in the Jungle, when Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman
in Kinshasa in 1974, can there have been such an eagerly anticipated
punch-up."
Earlier this summer, Galloway visited Washington in a widely
publicized appearance to testify before a US Senate Committee
and defend himself against accusations that he took kickbacks
from Saddam Hussein's government.
During his visit to Capitol Hill, Galloway and Hitchens briefly
exchanged verbal fisitcuffs. When Hitchens provoked him with
a question, Galloway called him a "drink-soaked former
Trotskyist popinjay."
The confrontation added fuel to the fire to last month's
debate, which I moderated. It was held at the Baruch College
performing arts center in Manhattan. Speaking before a sold-out
crowd of over 1,000 people, both men battled it out for over
two hours. This is an excerpt of the debate. It starts with
Christopher Hitchens talking about Saddam Hussein.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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