2005 Toledo Riot - Rally Turns To Rioting

Rally Turns To Rioting

Responses had been organized during the week leading up to the rally. Neighborhood residents, the Toledo chapter of the International Socialist Organization, local anarchist organizations, and the left-wing Anti-Racist Action groups from other cities coordinated in planning a massive protest aimed at forcing the NSM rally to be cancelled. After forcing police to cancel the rally, the protesters directed aggression against the police in response to random arrests and police brutality. This set off a four hour conflict between over 600 community members and the Toledo police force. Police cancelled the march as the situation between police and community members escalated. Members of the NSM and its supporters were told to leave town with a police escort. Local anarchist Lance Crandall has talked to the press about taking part in the counter-demonstration which sparked the riot.

While the neo-Nazi group had already left the park, most of the community members and protesters were unaware of this. Eleven police personnel suffered injury, and one female officer suffered a concussion after a brick smashed through the side window of her vehicle, hitting her in the head. Police, media vehicles and emergency vehicles were all targeted. A number of stores in the community were targeted by the crowd, including a local bar, believed by many locals to be a regular hangout for police and politicians, which was broken into and set on fire. A local gas station was also looted. Police arrested more than 120 rioters, most of whom were residents of the North End. According to the mayor, a number of protesters were wearing gang colors.

Although disturbed by the intentions to march, the city's mayor, Jack Ford, was extremely critical of the riot, saying that it was "just what they wanted." However, many of the protesters noted that the NSM, by their own admission, were unhappy about being forced out of the neighborhood. Ford declared that a state of emergency existed, and the mayor then imposed an 8 pm curfew on the entire city. Police officers from several jusrisdictions, local SWAT team members, and private security firms patrolled the North End that evening.