New emails show Tennessee law enforcement focused on counter-protesters at a neo-Nazi event

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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 Worker’s 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, can’t 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/