Officers out in full force for downtown Knoxville protest
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May 26, 2007
By JEFF LENNOX
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Close to 300 Knoxville police officers, Knox County sheriff's deputies, and Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers kept close watch over a white supremacist rally Saturday in downtown Knoxville.
The 30 or so protestors came from across the United States to Knoxville to argue that national and local media are not giving enough attention to black-on-white crimes. The issue they are thrusting to the center of their message is the double murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Knoxville police closed several streets around Main Street to keep the protestors and a large number of counter-protestors apart from each another.
The counter-protestors, assembled on the other side of Main Street, showed up in greater numbers. They argued the white supremacists were exploiting the double murder to advance their racist platform.
Neo-Nazi leader Alex Linder, 40, said to be the organizer of the rally, was arrested after police say he entered a control access zone in the middle of Main Street.
Police kept the middle of the street open and off limits to protestors in case there was an emergency during the protest.
Linder, a Missouri native, faces charges for assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and vandalism.
These law enforcement agencies spent several weeks preparing for this rally.
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