The department's goal, he said, was to keep the Nazis and the Antifa counter-protesters separated. In Charlottesville, Craig said, violence erupted once white supremacists and counter-protesters clashed. "They had a videographer there, an attorney there, and most participants were wearing GoPro cameras," the chief said. And a lawyer, suggesting that the group was primed to exploit a tense protest, and to assert a claim of self-defense in the event violence broke out. The Nazi group came armed: two members with long guns and three with handguns. During the rally's second day, a car was intentionally driven into a crowd of people, killing counter-protester Heather Heyer and injuring 28 others. What could have happened?Ĭraig said that department intelligence indicated the Nazi group hoped to provoke a situation comparable to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, where white supremacists and Nazis poured through the streets. All told, the group spent about an hour in downtown Detroit.ĭave Wait, chair of the Motor City Pride planning committee, spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday's Detroit City Council meeting, thanking the Detroit Police Department for its handling of the Nazi protesters.
We don’t inject opinions or views, that could get volatile quickly."ĭetroit police, two Free Press staffers covering the festival said, quickly moved the Nazi protesters down Jefferson and across the street to a less-trafficked corner. "We have to go right down the middle and make sure, first and foremost, people are safe. "I think what people forget is that that constitutional right, whether you like it or not, applies to all people, not one side or the other," he said. It did not."Īnd honestly, Craig said later Monday, he's surprised that anyone interpreted the police presence as support or accommodation for the Nazi group. Were Detroit police escorting Nazis?Ĭraig, unequivocally, said no. "Any critics that said we escorted the National Socialist Movement - we were keeping two groups separate, and we did walk with them at some points to keep the opposing sides away" from each other, the chief said at a Monday news conference. "We kept the distance between both groups, and there was no violence. It could have been a bad situation had it erupted into violence.
In the days leading up to Motor City Pride, Detroit police learned that an armed neo-Nazi group planned to protest the annual festival, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Monday. The chief dispatched officers to flank the roughly 15 Nazi protesters, who verbally clashed with Antifa counter-protesters. The goal, he said at a Monday news conference, was to keep the peace.īut for some Detroiters, the sight of Detroit police seemingly marching alongside Nazis was galling, and the story quickly grabbed national coverage. There are a lot of great things to report about this year's Motor City Pride: Turnout was amazing! Everyone was so happy and enthusiastic! Tunde Olaniran headlined!īut there's also this thing that happened with a group of Nazis, who arrived in Detroit intent on disrupting the festival, and lingering questions about how the Detroit Police Department handled the Nazi protest. Watch Video: Detroit celebrates LGBT Pride Month by raising rainbow flag