New emails show Tennessee law enforcement focused on counter-protesters at a neo-Nazi event [View all]
New emails show Tennessee law enforcement focused on counter-protesters at a neo-Nazi event
A Tennessee Homeland Security official said the white nationalist Traditionalist Workers' Party was "typically not the issue."
LUKE BARNES APR 30, 2018, 12:23 PM
A series of emails sent between Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials over the past few months reveals law-enforcement was focused on counter-protesters at several recent events organized by the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), rather than the neo-Nazis themselves.
In one particular email, dated March 13, Tennessee Office of Homeland Security Intelligence Analyst Misty Phillips addresses concerns about neo-Nazi protesters attending the panel, writing that TWP is typically not the issue, but rather opposing groups.
The cops focus on counterprotestors appears to have emboldened the neo-Nazi group. Matthew Heimbach, former leader of the TWP, posted on a group chat days before the event that he had talked to the cops ahead of the rally and been reassured that they would avoid any security issues.
So basically I think if the Reds act up, they are gonna get billy clubbed
so, cant complain, he added.
TWP has a history of violent behavior and advocates for a whites-only ethnostate. During a TWP rally at Sacramento in 2016, seven people were stabbed and nine others hospitalized during clashes with counter-protesters. TWP also took part in the Charlottesville rally last year and bragged about the death of 32-year-old counter-protester Heather Heyer in internet chatrooms.
https://thinkprogress.org/tennessee-law-enforcement-focused-on-counter-protesters-neo-nazi-event-97f56fa537b7/