HUNTINGTON BEACH : Skinheads to Rally for Metzger at Park

City officials on Tuesday confirmed that a group of skinheads supporting race separatist Tom Metzger are expected to meet Saturday in Central Park.

“As long as the group is not over 25 persons, we can’t prohibit them from meeting in the park,” Mayor Thomas J. Mays said. He said that about 20 to 25 people are expected to show up.

The rally, by self-avowed skinheads, is to show support for Metzger in the wake of hisloss of a civil court case in Portland, Ore. In that case, which was decided last week by a jury, Metzger and his organization, White Aryan Resistance, was ordered to pay $12.5 million in damages to the family of a black man killed by followers of that organization.

The city first heard of the proposed rally from an anonymous caller who sought information about use of Central Park. The caller said skinheads wanted to have a rally for Metzger.

Later, a permit request was filed, asking for use of the park with sound amplification equipment. The city denied the sound amplification request but could not legally deny park access to the group as long as it does not exceed 25, Mays said. Groups larger than that require extra city services and thus require permits, he noted.

Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg said officers will be on hand at the park.

“I have some concerns about that type of group coming to our park and what other type groups they may draw,” Lowenberg said. “The potential for conflict is significant. And so we hope nobody shows up. But from a proactive point of view, we have to be prepared. We will be keeping our eye on the area.”

Mays said he hopes that people, including opponents of Metzger, will not come to the park Saturday to see the rally. He said that an influx of curiosity seekers or opponents of Metzger would only “add to their (the skinheads’) crowd and thus add to the attention they want to get.”

Mays said that he deplores the race separation sentiments of Metzger’s followers but conceded that they have the constitutional right to meet and speak.