Supremacist Draws Angry
Crowd in Connecticut
A white supremacists’ gathering in a Connecticut library March 10 drew about 600 protestors, ending in one arrest and the use of pepper spray by police. The Rev. Matt Hale of the World Church of the Creator and about 50 of his white-power supporters met at the Wallingford Public Library because of the city’s history of racial conflict, according to the March 11 New York Times. In 2000 the Wallingford mayor refused to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a paid holiday for city workers, an act that spurred passage of a state law requiring paid shutdown on the day for all Connecticut municipalities.
State police resorted to force and pepper spray to curb demonstrators and also confiscated one handgun and numerous knives, the New Haven Register reported March 13. One male protestor was arrested inside for disorderly conduct during Hale’s speech; others scuffled outside with Hale sympathizers or police.
“They could not have been more helpful in this incredibly difficult time,” Library Director Leslie Scherer told the Register about police, who made physical changes at the library to lessen the potential for violence. In November 2000 Hale’s Illinois-based group was limited, but not barred, in its use of the Bloomington (Ill.) Public Library meeting room.
Posted March 19, 2001.
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