White supremacists, demonstrators square off in L.A.

LOS ANGELES - A white supremacist group rallied against illegal immigration in downtown Los Angeles yesterday as hundreds of counter-protesters gathered to shout them down in a tense standoff that included several arrests, thrown rocks and police in riot gear.

Police officers stood between the white supremacists and counter-demonstrators on the south lawn of Los Angeles' City Hall, where about 50 members of the National Socialist Movement waved American flags and swastika banners for about an hour.

The white supremacists, many of them wearing flack helmets and black military fatigue uniforms, shouted "Sieg Heil" before each of their speakers took the podium to taunt counter-protesters with racial, anti-Semitic and misogynistic epithets.

"We will meet you head on," one of the white supremacists, whose name could not be made out over the fuzzy public address system, warned the crowd from behind several phalanxes of police in riot gear.

Members of the Detroit-based group said they picked the location for their rally because of Los Angeles' large immigrant population. They accused some of the immigrants of stealing jobs and committing crimes. Group members also said they were reacting to recent marches encouraging legislators to enact reform that includes amnesty for some illegal immigrants.

Much of the white supremacists' words were drowned out by such chants as "Hey hey, ho ho, Nazi scum have got to go" from the larger crowd of about 500 counter-protesters who held signs that read "Nazis: Get Out of Los Angeles" and "Racists Are Ignorant."

There was a brief flare-up of violence before the speakers arrived. A shirtless man was seen being escorted behind police lines by an officer as counter-protesters punched and grabbed at him. Blood could be seen at the base of the man's neck. Police Commander David Doan said three or four counter-protesters were arrested for throwing items.