Fire

Well- Its over- the nazi's came- and there were some fights, and "disturbances" but no riots, and the bastards left after about 30 minutes- They discovered that the reception was not welcoming, at all, and that the people there werent dumb enough to fight the cops, or each other, but were very willing to beat on some nazi's- BTW to everyone above, it should be noted that these guys were a concern because they do not advocate nonviolent protests- they openly state that they want to confront and "battle" with anyone that opposes them- despite the retoric, they backed down and went home when they saw that the streets were lined with anti- nazi's and police- some of the nazi's got a bit roughed up and almost all of their banners and signs were torn from their hands and ripped up along the march route- the cops had too much to do to stop the protesters that were attacking inanimate objects- basicly everyone from the gay pride coalition to the outlaws biker gang was there to "welcome " hitlers boys, and they were universally pissed at them for comming around-

For those who are interested in such things, heres a play by play of what happened from my POV

10am- arrived at store with bag full of guns- positioned said in pre-determined places (away from customers but accessable to myself and my backup) and strap a pistol tp my hip
10:15 - First of special detail security team arrives- I often do part time work for a local high risk security firm, and allow them to use my shop as a staging area for events downtown, Its convienient for them as I have a very large backroom that is mostly empty at the moment, and I get the benefit of very noticable armed men standing around- the security guys were hired today by a local bar to, in the words of the manager of said bar, "keep the skinheads out" the bar is right along the nazi's parade route- Incidentally, Team member one, whom we will call " teacup" is a certified police instructor, firearms trainer, and martial arts instructor....Teacup leaves me a Mossberg 590 and a pistol "just in case" (If things go terribly wrong my store is also the fallback location)

10:20 the first skinheads of the day arrive at my door- They attempt to enter despite the fact that the door is locked, the signs (there are two) say closed, and the lights are out- after pushing inefectually at the door they notice the 10" by 20" bright yellow sign on the door directly in front of them that says "NO HATE IN OUR TOWN" in large black letters- they talk angerly amongst themselves and wander off toward the protest.......

10:30 am The second team member, whom we will call Tac, arrives. Tac is a deputy sherif from a neighboring county, which down there is a part time thing, so he also works as a full time paramedic- this combo made him sought after for his counties meth lab busting squad, which he enjoys being on as it is "fun" his skills are also nice to have in the security biz... tac leaves another, amazingly similar to the first one mossberg 590, a .308 assault rifle, and two kevlar vests, with trauma plates, along with a bag completely full of ammo and a med kit ( did I mention that these guys do not fuck around)

10:35- Tac and teacup suit up- this involves kevlar, knives, guns, tazers, pepper spray, and about 25 minutes time

11:00- I open the store and K-9, the third team member arrives suited up, with his german shepherd (hence the name) k-9 will be in the companies SUV, and as he owns the firm will liason with the LEO on the scene. At this point, downtown is packed, and does not look at all like the "ghost town " that civic leaders wanted.... potentially, we all agree, that could be bad.

11:30- Security team leaves for the bar- they promise to call me with updates and info especially if things get nasty

11:55- My friend the cop arrives- we will call him boots- he drops his riot gear in the back alongside the arsenal...along with boots came another friend of mine, a very large, very nordic man we will call the Dane- I loan the dane a gun and holster-

12:00 boots sets his police radio on the counter and turns it on- there are police, sherrif's deputies, highway patroll, and cops from severall surrounding counties here to provide "an overwhelming police pressence" about this time teacup calls to state that downtown is full of angry people, and that a few of them have obviously been drinking....

12:15 another of my backup crew arrives, we will call him the turk- he has the least training of us all, and no experience with this kind of thing- we do not give him a gun. He is however, competent with a hatchet and club, so I give him a hatchet - he brought his own club, a 15 pound monstrosity of welded steel, sort of like a flanged mace.......



1:00 radio says the nazis are here, and are in the parking garage that the march is supposed to start at- the first arrest is reported- of someone that was threatening the nazi's... a highway patroll helicopter circles downtown, while we listen to the snipers on the rooftops reporting in on the radio....

1:05 the nazi's start- they are almost immediatly confronted by protesters, and quite a few are roughed up- more arrests happen, and one police officer is assaulted, apparently by a drunk

1:20 by this point the nazi's are in real danger of being mobbed- sherrifs deputies have to march with them to hold back the crowd- Missouri clearly does not like their kind around here- teacup calls to say that its getting rough where they are, a few blocks away- but where i am it is buisiness as usual, and lots of normal people come in to buy stuff- many compliment me on my NO HATE sign- not one reacts negatively to the fact that several people are wearing guns, one seems to notice mine, pauses, says "oh yeah, the nazis" and pays for his items.... Thankfully, no trouble at the store, no skinheads at all since the early morning ones.....

1:30 Nazis give up on trying to march past the journalism school, due to severe resistance, and the fact that the cops clearly do not want to protect them- despite this the cops pepper spray some protesters, and, accidentally, a nearby reporter (later it appears that everyone sprayed has, amazingly, no hard feelings toward the cops- even the reporter is ok with it) at this time, all

1:36 nazi's return to parking garage and begin to leave- a police officer comes over the radio with the statement that the out of town group is leaving, but that there are still some "free range nazi's " left downtown continues to be rowdy near the march site, but at my store it is just like any other pleasant spring day.......

2:00 its over, except for the after parties....buisiness is brisk, and people are polite and for the most part happy

from this point my day is like any other untill about closing (at 5:00)
at that point the security team returns, gathers their gear, and fills me in on their day- Teacup had to throw a skinhead over a railing, but beyond some shoving, that was it for them- they did put on their riot gear during the worst of it, on the advice of a Highway patrollman-

Overall, I have mixed feelings- It could have been worse because of it, but some part of me is happy with the nazi's getting so harrassed- and the fact that the harrassers stuck to going against the nazi's and not the cops or each other...and my store was hurt not a bit by it, I did not suffer financially, and no one threw anything through my window because of the NO HATE sign, a concern that many had- I am glad I took a stand and stayed open, in fact many of my patrons were supportive of that- But I hate to see the skinheads get any publicity, and they did get a lot........

__________________
Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens