Neo-Nazis Burn Swastika In Georgia After Underwhelming Rally

DRAKETOWN, GA — After staging a white supremacist rally at Greenville Street Park in downtown Newnan, Georgia, the National Socialist Movement reportedly held a swastika burning in Draketown, Ga., about 30 miles from Newnan and nearly 50 miles from Atlanta. The first event didn't draw large numbers of neo-Nazis, who were outnumbered 2-1 by Georgians who objected to the symbols of hate.

Photographer Spencer Platt captured the event for Getty Images, showing scenes of people giving Nazi salutes in front of a giant burning swastika. Other images show a burning othala rune, a symbol that was used by some elements of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany decades ago.

Ten arrests were made at a neo-Nazi rally held in Newnan Saturday. Those arrested were there to shout down the neo-Nazi ralliers and were mostly arrested for disorderly conduct and possession of prohibited items such as masks, fireworks, smoke grenades, various types of insect spray, bottles inscribed with the terms "shake and law" and a shield with outfacing screws, according to a statement made by the City of Newnan.

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Harry L. Hughes, a spokesman for the group, said NSM chose Newnan because they had their annual national meeting the evening before on April 20, right down the road, in Temple.

"Then, on Saturday, April 21, the NSM will be joined by other member organizations of the Nationalist Front in Newman ... for a public rally at Greenville Street Park," according to a statement from Hughes previewing the gathering. "The National Socialist Movement is exercising its right to peaceful assembly to address our party's concerns over rampant illegal immigration, failing domestic policies, the preservation of endangered southern historical sites and monuments. Other hot button issues will be addressed by various guest speakers."

It is believed the rally was the largest face-off between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist demonstrators, since the well-publicized protest in Charlottesville, Va., last year where one person was killed, USA Today reported.

After being screened for prohibited items, roughly 40 members of the National Socialist Movement entered Greenville Street Park for their demonstration. A group of at least 100 people who called themselves the NoNaziNewnan Coalition, from Newnan, Metro Atlanta, and from across the South, assembled in opposition to the neo-Nazi rally.

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(Photos by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally on April 21, 2018 in Draketown, Georgia. Community members had opposed the rally in Newnan and came out to embrace racial unity in the small Georgia town. Fearing a repeat of the violence that broke out after Charlottesville, hundreds of police officers were stationed in the town during the rally in an attempt to keep the anti racist protesters and neo-Nazi groups separated.