The Nation : Hundreds Protest Neo-Nazi Gathering

Hundreds of anti-racism demonstrators marched for seven miles along a highway near Coeur d’Alene, Ida., to protest a three-day conference of neo-Nazis and skinheads. The 500 mostly young demonstrators on the Walk for Racial Equality carried banners that proclaimed “Celebrate Diversity” and “No Aryan Homeland in Our Home.” Russ Gee, a 26-year-old who was among a contingent of people from the University of Idaho, said: “We’re trying to show the rest of the country that Idaho is not just potatoes and Nazis.” A phalanx of law enforcement officers screened the marchers as they walked down a paved bicycle path alongside the northern Idaho highway, and a police helicopter hovered above. The potential for violence and an unwillingness to give publicity to the white supremacists led some human rights groups to boycott the march.