Recently, hundreds of armed far-right extremists, including “Sieg Heil” chanting neo-Nazis, accompanied by right-wing Christian groups, converged on a park in Ohio where parents and children had gathered to enjoy a drag queen story event. The extremists clashed with rainbow umbrella-wielding supporters who had shown up to protect the event. At Wadsworth Memorial Park outside Akron, the Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour ended in chaos as tensions raged between activists and protesters. Several far-right extremist and religious groups, including the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, III Percenters, “White Lives Matter of Ohio,” Blood Tribe, and unaffiliated conservatives, attended the event to disrupt it.
Documentarian Ford Fisher captured the ensuing clashes on several videos posted to Twitter.
For crowd control, local police had set up metal barriers before the event, but they allowed far-right extremists to carry out their organized terror campaign, screaming racial and sexual slurs and hurling vitriol at families simply trying to have a good time.
Protesters carried weapons and performed Nazi salutes. At one point, a masked extremist pointed at a Black supporter of the story hour and yelled, “There’s a ni**er fa**ot!”
Around 15 children were seated inside the venue while Rose, the storyteller, read about treating others how they want to be treated and being good.
