Support NeoGAF

[King Tubby]

Neo-nazis should be given permits to protest. The idea of protest permits being withheld by the government based on the politics of the protesters is wildly antithetical to the first amendment.

Do you think they would ever grant permits to ISIS or al-Qaeda to hold a rally and try to recruit people?

 

[Karkador]

Come the fuck on guys. I've seen police security blockades. They park construction machinery and put up heavy concrete barriers at major intersections You couldn't ride a bike down those things if they were actually trying.

Where is the accountability? "I'm not sure" isn't good enough for 20 injured persons if you had planned security measures.

I hadn't read about whether there were any blocked streets or security measures like that. I assumed no, since there were multiple cars on that street. I would almost prefer "we didn't block the street" to "i dunno"

 

[TheRagnCajun]

Has there still been no arrests? The city has a lot to answer for...

 

[QuantumZebra]

Neo-nazis should be given permits to protest. The idea of protest permits being withheld by the government based on the politics of the protesters is wildly antithetical to the first amendment.

They made a lot of mistakes, but allowing people to protest isn't one of them.

Nazism is not a goddamn political statement

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Is the bar really so low that "blood and soil" and "white lives matter" don't count as hate speech?

Reply with images if you want, that doesn't change the fact that a law specifically about banning the specific slogan "white lives matter" would immediately open up legal precedent that someone would turn around and attempt to use on "black lives matter".

Ban it under some wider umbrella of hate speech, absolutely, but going so specifically at that particular example would end up with someone making it problematic

 

[Geist-]

...wow.

Not surprising that the people who let it happen in the first place don't know how to deal with its violent aftermath.

 

[Herne]

Even in Germany neo-Nazi's are allowed to protest, so long as they don't use any Nazi imagery or do the salute. Of course these shitheels don't deserve free speech but that is not what democracy (and, I believe, your constitution) is all about.

 

[L Thammy]

Even in Germany neo-Nazi's are allowed to protest, so long as they don't use any Nazi imagery or do the salute. Of course these shitheels don't deserve free speech but that is not what democracy (and, I believe, your constitution) is all about.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is confusing the situation. It isn't that Neo-Nazis are intentionally allowed to protest if they don't use the symbols, it's that there's no breathalyzer test for Neo-Nazis. They know the laws and encode their messages so that it's harder to find grounds to arrest them. The police can still take an aggressive and try to find those who get careless and end up displaying Nazi symbols or messages too openly.

 

[TheDeadHeroAlistair]

As far as I know, yes, the bar really is that low. At least from the standpoint of U.S. law.

With regards to the thing you quoted, I think you're missing some nuance here. It is necessary for a law like designed to combat hate speech to be carefully worded. I don't know if there's any practical law that would ban "white lives matter" because the statement by itself isn't controversial; very few people would seriously claim that white lives don't matter. Unless you try to ban specific phrases, which is kind of pointless because people are always going to try to skirt the law and come up with new phrases.

A judge would likely have to decide whether a slogan or something was hate speech or not. The primary usage of said slogan, the general context in which it's used, and the specific instances would all need to be taken into account. Whilst I believe "white lives matter" could be classified as implicit hate speech, due to the nature in which it is used, it doesn't explicitly condemn or call for violence towards any specific group of people.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Has there still been no arrests? The city has a lot to answer for...

From what I've read, they're investigating one guy that was bragging about cracking that one dudes skull open on Facebook..he has since deactivated his account. Idiot..

 

[Apt101]

From what I've read, they're investigating one guy that was bragging about cracking that one dudes skull open on Facebook..he has since deactivated his account. Idiot..

McAuliffe is pushing for arrests and apparently there is a wider investigation now: http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/l...cle_d7e6b88e-86df-11e7-8aec-3b49ad23a03b.html

I'm not sure what kind of power the governor has over a city's police force in Virginia, but hopefully something will now come of this.