USA: NEW YORK: KU KLUX KLAN MARCH

(23 Oct 1999) English/Nat

Although the federal appeals court barred them from wearing masks over their faces and from using amplification, 18 members of the Ku Klux Klan (K-K-K) marched and protested in lower Manhattan Saturday.

Imperial Wizard Jeff Berry stated that had they been allowed to wear masks, there would have been at least 80-100 Klansmen in the group.

The Klansmen were surrounded by some two thousand anti-Klan protestors and hundreds of policemen and media.

The one-hour K-K-K demonstration went largely without incident, although one New York member of the group was hurt when three men, posing as Klansmen, attacked him as the K-K-K marched onto the square.

Most of the commotion happened among the anti-Klan protestors, some of whom threw golf balls and batteries at the group as they retreated off the square.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"If we could have worn our hoods and robes, you would have seen a hundred Klansmen here."
SUPER CAPTION: Jeff Berry, Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The vision of what the first amendment would have been all about was if the Klan would have been able to be here today with sound, with their masks, because there's a right to anonymity in America, and the counter-demonstrators would have a right to do what they're doing."
SUPER CAPTION: Norman Siegel, President, American Civil Liberties Union

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We're not going to have any physical confrontation with the KKK, it's just a show of force to let them know that we don't except their racial views and ideas in this city."
SUPER CAPTION: Mr. Grady, demonstrator

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The racial tension in this city is calm right now, and they are trying to arouse it again and we don't need it in New York."
SUPER CAPTION: Michael Davis, demonstrator

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I feel strongly about the first amendment, but now that they're here, I feel that I want to express my first amendment rights as well. Because I disbelieve in their beliefs."
SUPER CAPTION: Dan Cisek

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We're bringing people together so they can get along, aren't we?"
SUPER CAPTION: Jeff Berry, Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...