The Nazi group planning a protest in Madison on Saturday was at Washington's state Capitol last month.
Adam Wilson, a reporter for the Olympian newspaper in Olympia, Washington said the appearance by the National Socialist Movement drew a large counterdemonstration. “That counterdemonstration was the primary focus of the Washington State Patrol's efforts to control the crowd,” said Wilson. “They didn't want the two groups to get anywhere near each other.” Wilson said there was a considerable disparity in size between the two groups. “We used the official count of 13 Nazis,” he said. And although some Olympia residents advocated for ignoring the Nazis, many did turn out to oppose their message; the official estimate was 500, although Wilson put the actual number at somewhere between 300 and 350.
Police in Madison have been planning for Saturday's rally by the Twin Cities' based neo-Nazi group for weeks, and will have 300 officers in and around the Capitol Square. The Capitol itself may be part of the draw; Wilson said the Nazi group was eager to be photographed at the Capitol in Olympia. “They would ask photographers to get the dome of the Capitol in the background of pictures of them,” he said.
Wilson said the National Socialists billed their Olympia appearance as opposing “white genocide” — urging white people to have more children while condemning African-Americans, Hispanics and Jews.
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The Olympian story on Neo-Nazi rally