Boise police on alert over neo-Nazi music festival
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Boise mayor's office is fielding numerous complaints about a neo-Nazi music festival planned for early October, the city's police department said.
Authorities have been on alert since advertisements for Hammerfest 2012 near Boise surfaced online, said Sgt. Jeff Basterrechea, who is with the police department's gang intelligence unit. The white supremacist group Hammerskin Nation plans to hold the event Oct. 6, according to the flier circulating online.
"This is a very high priority," Basterrechea said. "The mayor's office has received numerous complaints about this."
The skinhead group is rooted in Texas and has branches in Australia and Canada, according to the SITE Monitoring Service, a private intelligence firm that searches the Internet for extremist activity. The gunman who killed six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin last month described himself as a member.
The group has not disclosed the exact location of the planned Idaho event and attempts to contact local Hammerskin chapters were unsuccessful, KTVB-TV reported (http://bit.ly/OpRh7N ). Police are working with local venues to make them aware of the group, Basterrechea said.
Former neo-Nazi skinhead Marine T.J. Leyden told the news station he previously recruited for the group with events like Hammerfest. Leyden, who famously left the movement in 1996 and has promoted tolerance ever since, said the Boise event will be used to boost the group's numbers.
"They're going to say, 'Hey, come to this show.' These kids are going to see it, they're going to get all pumped up, they're going to think it's fantastic," said Leyden, who cautioned that protesters should stay away and allow law enforcement to monitor the event.
"The group is extremely violent. The Hammerfests that they throw in different parts of the country are designed for a couple things. One it's designed for unity, but it's also designed to get people's anxiety up," Leyden said.
"My best suggestion is let law enforcement handle these guys. Don't go out and counter-protest. This is what they want. They want counter-protesters yelling, screaming and hollering out there to make them feel like they're big, tough men."
The Homeland Security Department has previously issued reports on individual foreign and domestic extremist groups such as al-Qaida and Hammerskin Nation. The Hammerskin assessment said many of the group's members received military training and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Authorities have been on alert since advertisements for Hammerfest 2012 near Boise surfaced online, said Sgt. Jeff Basterrechea, who is with the police department's gang intelligence unit. The white supremacist group Hammerskin Nation plans to hold the event Oct. 6, according to the flier circulating online.
"This is a very high priority," Basterrechea said. "The mayor's office has received numerous complaints about this."
The skinhead group is rooted in Texas and has branches in Australia and Canada, according to the SITE Monitoring Service, a private intelligence firm that searches the Internet for extremist activity. The gunman who killed six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin last month described himself as a member.
The group has not disclosed the exact location of the planned Idaho event and attempts to contact local Hammerskin chapters were unsuccessful, KTVB-TV reported (http://bit.ly/OpRh7N ). Police are working with local venues to make them aware of the group, Basterrechea said.
Former neo-Nazi skinhead Marine T.J. Leyden told the news station he previously recruited for the group with events like Hammerfest. Leyden, who famously left the movement in 1996 and has promoted tolerance ever since, said the Boise event will be used to boost the group's numbers.
"They're going to say, 'Hey, come to this show.' These kids are going to see it, they're going to get all pumped up, they're going to think it's fantastic," said Leyden, who cautioned that protesters should stay away and allow law enforcement to monitor the event.
"The group is extremely violent. The Hammerfests that they throw in different parts of the country are designed for a couple things. One it's designed for unity, but it's also designed to get people's anxiety up," Leyden said.
"My best suggestion is let law enforcement handle these guys. Don't go out and counter-protest. This is what they want. They want counter-protesters yelling, screaming and hollering out there to make them feel like they're big, tough men."
The Homeland Security Department has previously issued reports on individual foreign and domestic extremist groups such as al-Qaida and Hammerskin Nation. The Hammerskin assessment said many of the group's members received military training and fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
somehow they feel so comfy in ID....
Let 'em rock. What's the harm with these young kids dancing to their favorite disco music.
Like it or not, they have the same 1st amendment protections as anyone else. I am not so sure that we should discourage them at all.  The general public need to be able to see who these people are so they are informed. I personally enjoy watching interviews with klansman where the interviewer just asks a few questions and then lets them show what fools they truly are with their ramblings.
 @Nitroxman While I agree that they do have the right, the real problem is that they may attract kids with the music, and slip their foul message in with the lyrics. Kids who are into anti-government mind sets, and may not even understand the meaning, may still find it intriguing.
But the best way to deal with them at least at this point is to simply ignore them, while making sure that there is enough response available if it is needed.
 @OrcasThunder  @Nitroxman Do you mean like the 'hip hop' and 'gangsta rap' so-called music? You know, where the majority of it is talking about bitc**s and h*s and how they're 'hard' because they carry a glock fowdy that that they pack?
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Yeah, not a whole lot of outcry for that. Probably because it isn't politically correct. Anyone brings it up and they're labelled a racist...
 @Nitroxman Sorry, that wasn't aimed at you. The reply button through your name in and I forgot to remove it.
A Nazi music festival... that's a new one. Be on the lookout for Techno Viking.
Hm, never heard of them before...
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Whatever, it's a free (used to be anyway) Country and they can organize and spout whatever nonsense they want, regardless how idiotic other people may find it.
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Pro's and Con's to everything, including the first amendment.Â
No the hate groups have not gone away - the New Black Panthers are still around along with Occupy Wall Street and Rev Wrights church is still going strong too...and the Democratic National Convention proved how much they hate God and Israel by booing when it was announced they were adding God and Israel back to the DNC platform.. It took the DNC THREE votes to get God and Israel ADDED BACK!!!!Â
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Show us some love Libs!!
 @Truth Percolates Even for you, this is a pretty pathetic comment. BTW, God is fake.Â
 @Truth Percolates It's not about God.  It's about his followers-- morons like you.  Big, big difference.  The founding fathers separated Church from State for a reason-- if you want to see why look at countries run under religious precepts, like in the Middle East for example.  There's really no difference between how the Taliban thinks and how you think.  You are the same. Â
 @Truth Percolates You forgot to mention the GOP, who seem to hate anyone and anything that represents progress.
You are mistaking progressivism and progress.  Progress is moving foward for the benifit of something, progressivism is about more and more government control and intrusion into our lives.  You are also mistaking hate for disagreement. Just because the conservatives disagree with policy does not mean they hate the person.
 @Nitroxman I see... so it's only hate when the liberals do it as mentioned in @Truth Percolates post above then?
I think that's a bit hypocritical, don't you?
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 @Fooey Patooey!  @Truth Percolates you can say the same thing about the Democrats.
 @Ranger Rick Reading comprehension FAIL!
 @Truth Percolates Just because someone does not believe in god does not make them a hate group.
All those inbred idiots in one place? Sounds like a huge cluster****.
wOw. Sorry but I just can't get past the idea that we are now being encouraged to 'tolerate' these hate groups. Seems simple enough...but there is something very wrong with that statement in general.
Promote Tolerance??? With groups like this that are extremely violent???
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IÂ just don't get that part I guess. I agree with the fact that protesters need to STAY AWAY from an 'event' like this one, the main reason being personal safety. Don't go 'up against' these extremists on your own...but to support tolerance?
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If staying away from the event translates into 'tolerance' than I guess I agree with that, but I would never want to say that I would ever be tolerant of these evil people!
I thought these hate groups were done. Sorry to see they still thrive.