City says neo-Nazis allowed to march, but not with guns

The city of Whitefish says that if a neo-Nazi march through town does take place those participating will not be allowed to carry weapons.

The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website, had been planning to hold a march through downtown Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but late last week the website announced it had canceled its plans after receiving a letter from the city saying its application for a special event permit was incomplete.

Andrew Anglin, who runs the site, said that he will reschedule the march to February and the march will be “bigger and have more guns and special guests than we originally planned.”

In a letter dated Jan. 12 sent to the Daily Stormer, City Manager Chuck Stearns said he was in the process of approving the event permit when the city found out about the postponement. He said the city will keep the application on file for two months in case organizers wish to reactivate it and provide a new date for the march.

However, Stearns noted, the special event permit would only be approved with six conditions.

One of those conditions is that “no concealed or unconcealed (open carry) weapons” would be allowed for those participating. Cities, under state law, for public safety purposes can prevent and suppress the carrying of concealed or unconcealed weapons to public assembly, publicly owned buildings, parks under its jurisdiction or schools.

“So while they may be able to march in the future, given their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly rights, they will have to do so without weapons,” Stearns said Tuesday in an email to Whitefish residents and the press.

The Daily Stormer has been threatening to hold an armed march through Whitefish. On Jan. 9, the city received an application from the Daily Stormer for a march on Second Street from Memorial Park to City Hall for Monday, Jan. 16.

Stearns, who under city regulations has the ability to approve special event permits, sent a letter to the website saying the application could not be approved because it was incomplete.

In his Jan. 12 letter, Stearns said the website would have to submit another money order for $65 to make up the difference of what was previously sent to cover the $125 application fee. Also, Stearns said he would waive the requirement listed under city regulations that organizers provide a certificate of insurance for the event “so as not to limit your right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”

He said that he would also waive the requirement that organizers petition or notify adjacent property owners of the march, and that the city would handle the notifications in this case.

Stearns also set specific conditions on locations pertaining to the march for public safety purposes. Marchers would be allowed to assemble on Fourth Street between Pine and Fir avenues, march north on Pine to East Second Street to City Hall at Baker Avenue. At City Hall, marchers would have to load on buses, which would be allowed to stage on East First Street between Central Avenue and Baker Avenue, and leave the area.

Organizers, under the conditions, would need to provide 10 portable toilets on East Fourth Street at the assembly site to accommodate the estimated more than 200 attendees.

Since late December, The Daily Stormer has been threatening to hold a march in Whitefish sometime in January. The website also created a call to action prompting an online “troll” storm directed at Whitefish businesses and Jewish families following an alleged incident involving the family of white supremacist Richard Spencer, who is the self-proclaimed leader of the alt-right movement and a part-time Whitefish resident.