“I think the fact is that the unfortunate thing, and people don’t understand, is that there is this First Amendment right that people are allowed to gather, protest, and in the state of Ohio, open carry. Which is alarming,” Rue said. “We understood that the group would likely come in, walk around through some of the streets, and speak and leave. If they were engaged, we had heard, it could cause a problem. But we were watching the whole time.”
Officials heard there could be a hate group coming to Springfield, but “didn’t know to what degree,” Rue said, so the police department began to prepare.
“It was troubling to city staff when we learned that they were planning a protest. Because of the nature in which we learned about it, the police department responded,” Rue said. “We had to respond with wisdom on the intelligence that we had, which means we were fully in control, fully engaged the entire time,” he said. “Because of having such an active and beautiful weekend in Springfield, the city was heightened on making sure the city had an appropriate and tactful and intelligent response to this.”
City officials also, in a social media post, called the incident “deeply concerning.”
“We want to inform you that a hate group from outside of our community made an appearance in the downtown core block today. Their presence is deeply concerning, and our public safety services took the necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in our community was maintained,” a post on the “City of Springfield, Ohio - Government” Facebook page stated Saturday.
Cox First Media reached out to Springfield Police on Sunday, to follow up about police response to the group’s presence, and a sergeant on duty said of Saturday’s action, “It was just a little peaceful protest.” The sergeant called the group’s presence “relatively uneventful,” adding that he didn’t think police had to have any interaction with the group at all.
The News-Sun requested any video the city of Springfield possessed showing the group’s few minutes demonstrating in front of City Hall. Upon receipt from the city, we reviewed that video, which showed 13 people on the plaza starting at 5:02 p.m. Aug. 10.
Most of the group was wearing matching red shirts, black pants and masks, while two men in black clothing stood in front of them — one of them unmasked and speaking, as another man in the group filmed. The footage does not include audio of what the people were saying.
The men on both ends of the line were holding what appeared to be rifles, and another two were holding aloft large black and white swastika flags. The swastika flag is the flag of Nazi Germany. At times the Nazi-affiliated group raised their right hands in the “Heil Hitler” gesture.
The group walked down and back one block on Fountain Avenue before going out of camera view. Two cars stopped in the middle of Fountain, with the drivers appearing to say something to the group, but there was no physical altercation.
More city reaction
The city government Facebook post quoted Rue as saying, “There was an attempt to disrupt our community by an outside hate group. Nothing happened, except they expressed their First Amendment rights. Our Police Division was aware and in control the entire time.”
“We stand united against hate and discrimination and remain committed to upholding the values of respect and inclusivity within our community,” the city Facebook post continued. “Let’s continue to support one another and uphold these values that define our community.”
Rue told the News-Sun what he meant in his Facebook post comment about nothing happening was that “there was still a hate group that tried to cause unrest in our community, but (that) there was no incident.”
“They walked near one of the festivals, they walked past one of the festivals, yelling whatever rhetoric they wanted to yell — hate speech,” he said. “But we’re really proud of how our officers responded. They responded wisely, they were in control the entire time, we knew their every movement. It was important that the safety and well being of everyone was a priority, and our city police department and public safety officers responded in kind with professionalism, with calm and there was no incident.”
Rue did say he thinks the group’s presence “is not peaceful” and “was disruptive.”
“Their message was disrespectful against humanity ... I would not use the word peaceful ... If you were to define peaceful as no incident, then yes it was peaceful, but it’s hard to put the word peace as I define it in my heart with a group like this. It was entirely uneventful. Any attention given to this group would have given them what they wanted, which was more attention.”
The city’s Facebook post drew more than 400 comments, many of them about the group carrying guns. Under Ohio law, with certain restrictions, open carrying of firearms is legal.
“First amendment right is one thing. An ARMED masked group is another,” Dana Bennett-Brown commented.
Posted Marvin Campbell: “My only true concern is the factors been such a delay between the arrival of this group and the city going on record about them. It also would be nice to give the public a heads up. Hey, there’s people downtown who have semi automatic rifles.”
Rue stressed that, “Springfield stands firmly against hate and division. We believe in inclusivity and respect and the dignity of every individual, and these values were clearly demonstrated last Saturday.”
