The group obtained a city-issued permit for the march in February. The eight-block march lasted its legal 60-minute limit and stopped at least four times on the route.
Hecklers jeered from the sidewalks during the stops, but there were no incidents or arrests like previous Aryan parades.
Saturday's parade was part of this weekend's Aryan World Congress.
Ailing founder Richard Butler, 86, has hosted the three-day event since the late 1970s when he moved to Hayden Lake from California. This year's conference met at a private campground near Cataldo, Idaho, about 40 miles east of Coeur d'Alene.
Under hot, humid skies, Butler offered a handful of Nazi salutes from the back of a pickup that was dragging the flag of Israel - an anti-Semitic first for Aryan parades in the area.
Tom Metzger, one of the country's foremost racists and leader of the White Aryan Resistance, came from California to join the parade. He was a regular speaker at Aryan Nations World Congress events during the 1980s and 1990s when Butler had his 20-acre compound near Hayden Lake. Butler lost the compound in 2000 to bankruptcy after losing a $6 million civil rights suit.
Other leaders of neo-Nazi groups joined the march, including the leader of a newer supremacy group called White Revolution Billy Roper, of Russellville, Ark.
"Pastor Butler has devoted his life to the survival of our people and our race," Roper said. "He's given up everything he's had to make sure America doesn't become a Third World country. All white American citizens owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude."
But sideliners, who seemed jolted by the event, either shouted opposition or stared in amazement.
"Where I'm from, any display of public racism like this is against the law and wouldn't be tolerated," said Jaime Reid, 32, who moved to Coeur d'Alene from Edinburgh, Scotland. "We're all born equal. It's a great country and I love it very much. I just don't understand this. They're not representing America in a good way."
Residents held signs reading "There's no place for racists in Idaho," and "Hate is a bad business." They mingled with a dozen or more outnumbered Aryan sympathizers.
"They have the right to do it, but it sure degrades the town," said Paul Bentz, 29. "This puts a bad light on a great town with great people."
Meanwhile, a rival three-day white supremacy event called "The Gathering" attracted the same number of people, many are former Aryan Nations followers. They met at a campsite about 50 miles from Wallace, Idaho. Law enforcement was closely monitoring that gathering, expected to include a cross burning.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)