Metzger Supporters, Critics Turn Gathering Into Exchange of Insults

About 40 young people gathered around a picnic table Saturday in Hart Park, half of them self-proclaimed skinheads there to support white supremacist Tom Metzger, and the other half to confront the Metzger supporters.

There were no altercations or arrests during the exchange, which quickly deteriorated into a shouting match. Attempts to discuss race issues led to a swap of insults riddled with barbs about hairdos, appearance and IQs.

A man who refused to give his name but identified himself as the leader of the American Nazi Party urged his companions to “get together as white people,” then saluted them with a German Nazi slogan.

“Oh, that’s real American!” one of the white supremacist critics shouted. The confrontation last about another half hour, then the white supremacists and skinheads drove away.

“You know,” one plainclothes officer mused, “for Aryans they sure drive a lot of Japanese cars.”

Metzger, a Fallbrook resident, did not attend the gathering, staged to support him in the wake of his loss several days ago of a civil court case in Portland, Ore. In that case, a jury ordered Metzger and his organization, the White Aryan Resistance, to pay $12.5 million in damages to the family of a black man killed by followers of the group.

The Saturday event had initially been planned for 1 p.m. at Huntington Central Park, where dozens of police, including several on horseback and bicycles, patrolled the grounds in case there was any trouble. It was not clear why the meeting was moved.

Frustrated Huntington Beach officials said someone called City Hall on Oct. 25 anonymously requesting a permit for the group to gather at that city’s park. They asked if they could use amplifiers but the city does not allow that in the park. Despite disapproving of the group’s purpose, the city could not legally deny the permit because it would be a violation of free speech and the right of citizens to assemble, Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays had said.

By 1:30 p.m., no skinheads had converged on the park but a group of about 40 anti-white supremacists--mostly college-age people unaffiliated with an organization--had gathered outside a burger cafe at Central Park to protest.

Frank Eiklor, founder of the Orange County Task Force Against Anti-Semitism, arrived at Central Park “to make sure they didn’t get things off the ground here.” He said he came with only one other person because large numbers of counter-demonstrators would only “call attention to their cause, which is exactly what they need and want.”

“I came down here because this is something I really believe is wrong and I wanted to state my opinions about,” said Steve Almeida, a 19-year-old Orange Coast College student from Costa Mesa. “We’re not a formal group, just a bunch of friends who talked to each other and decided to come.”

When Huntington Beach Police Lt. Ed McErlain announced that it appeared the supremacist group had relocated to the park in Orange, Almeida and several other counterdemonstrators went there.

A Chapman College sorority picnic disbanded after the supremacist youths, many clad in “White Power” T-shirts and sporting swastika tattoos, claimed a nearby table.

Only two sorority sisters stayed.

“It’s scary,” said Kelly Vombaur, 23. “It kind of made me mad that my group left.” She said she had not tried to speak up, out of fear.

“It wasn’t fright,” said Leah Hunt, 22. “I just didn’t have the guts.”