Members of the neo-Nazi group "White Revolution" planned to hold a rally in Gainesville

Members of the neo-Nazi group "White Revolution" planned to hold a rally in Gainesville
November/December 2002

Photos at right and below: On November 9, members of the neo-Nazi group "White Revolution" planned to hold a rally in Gainesville. The stated aim of group leader Billy Roper was to protest the Jewish students who protested Palestinian Awareness Week, and to show their particular strain of neo-Nazi, too, was against the war on Iraq.

But the crowd of 300 anti-racists that showed up to oppose them was not confused about whether the Nazis were suddenly a peace group concerned with Palestinian rights. Members of peace groups, Jewish groups, feminist groups, black groups, and random people who heard about it arrived early and in large numbers, organized by a group created for the occasion, Community Response to Racism and Fascism.

By the time the 12 neo-Nazis showed up to rally around 11 am, they were met by an enthusiastic crowd yelling "GO AWAY." Stopped by the large mass of anti-racists as they walked south on 13th Street, they never made it to their stated destination, but instead were hemmed in by anti-racists, and then by cops, who interposed themselves between the anti-fascists and the fascists, along the sidewalk adjacent to the Holiday Inn parking lot.

After about an hour they left, surrounded by a phalanx of police and followed by demonstrators.