White Supremacists Rally at Tomb of Dr. King; Troopers Keep Order
More than 2,500 police and National Guard troops brought their guns Saturday to the tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the apostle of nonviolence, to protect five white supremacists demonstrating nearby.
“The enemy is at the front door. They want us to hide under the bed,” shouted Frankie Johnson, a 20-year-old Atlanta woman who was among 75 counterdemonstrators who showed up despite suggestions by civil rights groups that they ignore the white supremacists.
Authorities reported no violence at the rally led by white supremacist Richard Barrett, leader of the Nationalist Movement, a Mississippi-based group.
However, the security arrangements caused the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change to close for the day.
The demonstration, lasting less than an hour, took place near the spot where a parade marking the King national holiday began Monday, across the street from King’s grave site.
“That grave is not a throne. That corpse is not a king. We are here to bury a tyranny,” Barrett said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four supporters joined Barrett; a reporter earlier counted three.
As he left with a law enforcement escort, Barrett was jeered by some of the counterdemonstrators, a racially mixed and mostly young group kept at least 200 yards away in the morning fog and drizzle.
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