The old REBEL YELL?
PIKEVILLE – Despite fears of violence, white nationalists and opponents exchanged only words at a rally in downtown Pikeville on Saturday as a heavy police presence and metal barricades kept the two sides separated.
At the height of the rally, there were about 125 white nationalists on one side of Main Street in an enclosure beside the historic Pike County courthouse and about 200 opponents on the opposite side of the street behind barriers set up along the sidewalk.
A line of local and state police officers stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder in the street between the two sides as they screamed at each other in the 90-degree heat.
The white nationalists hoped to recruit members with a message of help for working people in a place where the economy has been hurt by a sharp drop in coal jobs, but they spent more time condemning their opponents for trying to shout them down.
“We see the forces of degeneracy!” Jeff Schoep, commander of the National Socialist Movement, yelled as he looked across the street at the protesters.
A man with him, who refused to identify himself, shouted, “The white man built this country!”
For their part, the protesters hooted on plastic horns, blew whistles, hollered “Shut the — up” and chanted slogans such as “Punch a Nazi in the face! Every nation, every race!”
One held a sign with a picture of Adolph Hitler shooting himself in the head, with the words “Follow your leader,” while another had a sign that said “White People — we don’t own this country.”
There was so much noise during the rally that it was difficult to understand either side at times.
After about an hour of speeches, the white nationalists left the courthouse and headed to their cars.
The opponents, who call themselves anti-racists or anti-fascists, followed them down the street to a spot where there were no barriers.
Police formed a line between the sides, and about 40 heavily armed state police officers in riot gear, who had been in waiting during the rally, moved in to make sure there was no violence.
A beefy sheriff’s deputy moved up and down the line of police, telling officers to arrest anyone who tried to cross.
READ rest of story w/video HERE
By Bill Estep
Lexington Herald-Leader
