When a white supremacist group planned a gathering that was supposed to surpass Charlottesville, Va.’s Unite the Right rally, the community prepared for the worst. Hundreds of police officers arrived in a small Georgia town outside Atlanta to keep the peace. Counterprotesters came out en masse to condemn the hate groups that were scheduled to show up.
But when it came to the actual neo-Nazis who were supposed to descend upon Newnan, Ga., on Saturday, they apparently responded to the National Socialist Movement’s Nazi-palooza invitation with the age-old indicator of ambivalence:
“Who all gon’ be there?”
The New York Times reports that law enforcement officers greatly outnumbered the crowd at Saturday’s march organized by the National Socialist Movement, one of America’s largest white nationalist organizations, while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution estimates that “only a couple of dozen” actual white supremacists showed up.
Yet the 700 cops from 42 different agencies reportedly aggressively policed the counterprotesters with security checkpoints and barricades, and officers arrested anti-fascists and anyone looking like they wanted to start trouble.
As National Socialist Movement leader Jeff Schoep ranted about the scourge of skinny jeans and undocumented immigration, the crowd drowned out his speech about “standing on behalf of white nationalism, white patriotism and our history as American people.” City officials said that about 10 people were arrested, and the crowd was dispersed at 5 p.m.
The Nazis later convened in nearby Draketown, Ga., for a cocktail hour likely consisting of Bud Lights and Popov vodka, where they burned a swastika, combed fleas out of their beards, and danced to Taylor Swift and Shania Twain songs.
According to 11 Alive, law enforcement officials in the area said they didn’t break up the Nazi after-party because they didn’t receive calls or complaints from anyone in the area.
“Must be nice,” said a random black guy as he was shuffled out of his local Starbucks in handcuffs.