SIMI VALLEY : Group Defends Plan for Counterprotest

Members of the “Neighbors Against Nazis” coalition scolded Simi Valley officials Monday for trying to stop counterdemonstrators from attending a rally planned by the white supremacist Nationalist Movement.

City Council members recently urged that no counterdemonstration take place in connection with the Sept. 12 rally, citing “the potential for a violent confrontation.”

But about a dozen members of the coalition that is planning the counterdemonstration gathered outside Simi Valley City Hall to ask city officials to rescind the recommendation.

“Our coalition was formed to fight fascism, and what we end up fighting is our public officials,” said Paige Moser, co-coordinator of the Simi-Conejo chapter of the National Organization for Women, a member of the coalition. “This is disgraceful, and the mayor and others who are taking the attitude of silencing voices of protest should be ashamed.”

The Nationalist Movement, led by Mississippi attorney Robert Barrett, is scheduled to march in support of the four Los Angeles police officers who received not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating trial, held in Simi Valley.

Barrett and six followers tried to conduct a similar parade outside Simi Valley City Hall on June 6.

But it was halted by police after violence erupted among some of the 300 counterdemonstrators who converged on the site.

Mayor Greg Stratton defended the city’s view that the best response is to ignore Barrett.

“If everybody would just not show up, he would go home,” Stratton said. “He feeds on the publicity. The publicity comes from the counterdemonstrators.”

Later in the meeting, the council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance governing public assemblies, giving police sweeping powers to arrest demonstrators who fail to comply with city permit rules.