Demonstration devoid of major violence

The police chief said he was pleased with the way things went.
TOLEDO (AP) -- A demonstration Saturday by a neo-Nazi group whose appearance in October sparked rioting passed with minor arrests and no significant violence, dispelling fears of another melee.
About 170 people showed up downtown in 22-degree temperatures to protest against about 60 members of the neo-Nazi group as hundreds of police officers stood watch. Police made 29 arrests, all for misdemeanors including disorderly conduct, inciting violence and carrying a concealed weapon.
There were no injuries or property damage, Police Chief Mike Navarre said.
Three news photographers were charged with crossing a police line, said Lucas County Sheriff James Telb. He said one worked for The Toledo Journal, a weekly newspaper, and the other two were free-lancers.
One of the photographers was taken into custody while shooting pictures of the crowd from about 2 feet beyond a barricade.
Telb would not give the photographers' names but said they would be released Saturday night. The others charged were to go before a judge Sunday morning.
Heavy police presence
Streets for several blocks near the central government district were cordoned off by patrol cars and concrete barriers. Protesters and counter protesters were directed to fenced-off areas.
Navarre said about 700 officers from across northern Ohio were assigned to security details or were on standby. He said gang leaders and community activists had offered assurances of a peaceful counterdemonstration, as long as the neo-Nazis were kept out of predominantly black neighborhoods -- a key factor in October's disturbance.
The counter protesters, chanting slogans and carrying signs reading "Go home Nazis" and "Stop the hate now," were kept behind barricades about 75 yards from the area where the neo-Nazis were cordoned off. Mounted police periodically moved up against the crowd to keep it in the designated area.
The white supremacists -- some in brown shirts with red swastika armbands, others in winter clothing -- shouted back and held placards of their own. One read, "White race, stand up and take back your neighborhood."
After speaking for an hour, the neo-Nazis left the area in a caravan of about 18 cars with an escort of several police cars.
The city will spend about $300,000 on police overtime for the rally, Navarre said. That did not include pay for state troopers and sheriff's deputies.
Navarre said the weather and heavy police presence had helped avoid a repeat of the mayhem that made national TV. "This went great. I'm extremely pleased," he said.
The planned march by members of the National Socialist Movement in October sparked a four-hour riot that ended with businesses burned and looted, and bricks thrown at police and an ambulance driver.
Race relations
The violence scarred the city, prompting its leaders to examine race relations and efforts to combat gangs.
"I was embarrassed -- to want to destroy your own neighborhood," said Christina McCain, a 26-year-old black woman from Toledo who was at Saturday's demonstration. "[The neo-Nazis] got what they wanted."
In October the neo-Nazis said they wanted to protest gangs and rising crime in one Toledo neighborhood. Molly Nolan, a 23-year-old white woman who lives on the city's north side, said Saturday that the area didn't have as many problems before the black population increased.
"Now I don't want my kids to go out," said Nolan, who said her husband was an Aryan Nation member serving prison time in Michigan for armed robbery.
This time, the neo-Nazis said they wanted to protest how police and the city handled the October confrontation.
Saturday's rally was about two miles from the racially mixed neighborhood where the original march was to take place.
A mob that included rival gang members turned its anger toward police after they canceled the October march because they said the neo-Nazis tried to change the time and route of the protest.
The mob looted and burned a corner bar and smashed the windows of a gas station. Twelve officers were injured, and 114 people were arrested.