Site of Toledo riot calms down, but questions linger

Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Emily Hamlin
Plain Dealer Reporter

Toledo- The streets were quiet Monday in the North Toledo neighborhood where riots had erupted only two days before.

Life was returning to normal: Students walked home from school, a child played on a swing set, and residents worked in their yards.

But a fire-ravaged building on a corner of Mulberry Street just north of downtown serves as a dark reminder of the violence that exploded here Saturday.

Nearly 600 people had come to protest a march through the neighborhood by the National Socialist Movement, which calls itself "America's Nazi Party."

Anger at the supremacist group quickly escalated as members of the crowd threw rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and local businesses and set fire to a neighborhood bar.

Police arrested 114 people on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations.

Arraignments for 69, all from Toledo, began Monday morning in Toledo Municipal Court. A judge set bond at $10,000 for defendants accused of aggravated rioting, the Associated Press reported.

The area was slowly returning to normal Monday.

"There've been no flare-ups, no outbreaks of more violence," said Capt. Diane Ruiz-Krause, a spokeswoman for the Toledo Police Department. "Everything now is relatively calm."

The city lifted an 8 p.m. curfew early Monday morning, Ruiz-Krause said.

Residents spent the weekend cleaning up the damage and are now left with questions about why the situation got out of control.

Some were angry that the city allowed the neo-Nazi group to walk through the neighborhood - home to a mix of blacks, whites and Latinos - instead of a neutral area, such as the courthouse downtown.

"Why let them come here? That's just asking for trouble," said Ron Horn, whose family lives in North Toledo.

Others, including the neo-Nazi group, blame Toledo police for not handling the angry crowd.

Police should have known how explosive the situation could become, said Chris Nastachowski, whose great-uncle lost his home and business when rioters set fire to the building Saturday.

"Why wasn't there more protection in the area?" Nastachowski asked, sifting through the ashes of Jim and Lou's Bar, which had been part of the neighborhood for 54 years. "We can't make sense of it - why did this have to happen?"

Residents were even more frustrated at news that the supremacist group might return to the city. Because of the violence, city officials called off the march Saturday even before it started.

Mayor Jack Ford told the Associated Press on Monday that he will ask city lawyers if there is a way to keep the group out of town.

Bill White, a spokesman for the National Socialist Movement, told AP that his group "will never announce our plans in advance again."

The violence Saturday was exactly what Terry Glazer and other peace-rally organizers had hoped to avoid. Glazer, executive director of the community organization Lagrange Development Corp., had planned a rally with the anti-racism group Erase the Hate on Saturday in an attempt to draw people away from the protest.

Although about 300 people joined the rally at a local senior center, even more filled the streets to confront the supremacist group.

"We felt [the neo-Nazis'] message was best ignored," Glazer said. "They thrive on attention, and unfortunately that's exactly what they got."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

ehamlin@plaind.com, 216-999-4380


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