Neo-Nazis Stage Rally on Kristallnacht Anniversary in Kansas City
Published at
Carsten Koall/Getty Images(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — A Neo-Nazi Group has chosen Saturday, the 75th anniversary of one of the deadliest and most violent pogroms during the Nazi reign in Germany, to stage a rally in Kansas City, Mo., protesting immigration reform.
The Nationalist Socialist Movement, a white supremacist party claiming to be “the political party for every patriotic white American,” has been advertising its plans to hold a rally on the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass, on its website since October.
At around 3 p.m. Saturday, the group planned to converge at the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City to protest politicians who advocate granting amnesty to “illegal aliens” and who they say are allowing the “nation to drown in a free fall of economic collapse.”
“If you are working for a slaves wage, making barely enough to feed your family, and are tired of seeing the corruption that is crippling our land, the time to get active in this fight is now,” a leaflet for the event says.
The NSM has teamed up with other white supremacist groups, including members of the white Christian group Aryan Nations, the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club and the Traditionalist American Knights, an affiliate of the Klu Klux Klan.
The group was not specific about the planned course of activities during the protest, other than to say it is set to culminate in a swastika burning on private land at nighttime.
Several attempts by ABC News to contact the NSM went unanswered. According to its website, the group is “family-friendly,” and membership is open exclusively to “Non-Semitic heterosexuals of European descent.”
In response to the planned protest, a number of civil and human rights and anti-racism organizations planned their own counter-rally to be held at the same time.
The Latino Coalition of Kansas City (LCKC) called on its members to “Stand Up Against the Nazis” peacefully, and the Ida B Wells Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality in Kansas City has been seeking public assistance to call local hotels and confirm they are “not harboring Nazis.”
Kansas City police said they enacted security measures to “ensure a peaceful expression of ideas,” and avoid any violent incidents this afternoon. In a statement, they outlined all the items that would be prohibited from the “secure rally area” surrounding the site.
Everyone entering this area will be screened for items ranging from firearms, padlocks and chains to backpacks and baby strollers, which are strictly prohibited.
Kristallnacht (literally “crystal night”), refers to the shards of broken glass from smashed windows. On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, paramilitary and non-Jewish civilians swept through streets across Germany, destroying and ransacking Jewish homes, synagogues, schools and businesses.
Historians estimate up to 1,500 people died in the days surrounding the attacks, which started in the Hesse region of Germany, surrounding Frankfurt, and then spread across the German Reich.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio