(28 Jun 1998) T/I: 10:20:13
Small contingents from the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organisation and black militants faced off on Saturday (27/06) in this small Texas town, site of a gruesome racially motivated murder. The Klan called the gathering to dissociate itself from the June 7 killing of a black man, James Byrd, who was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck. Three young white men are accused of carrying out the hideous crime. Sixteen Klan followers, dressed in their white robes and peaked hats, and a dozen supporters faced a crowd of some 60 blacks and whites from Jasper and other East Texas communities. Many of the anti-Klan protesters were members of the New Black Panthers and Black Moslem Movement. Armed with rifles and shotguns, the Panthers and Moslems marched a few blocks away from the Klan rally. Police did not let them near the courthouse square where the Klan was gathered. Police arrested two demonstrators as several people lunged at the Klansmen and threw ice cubes as they left in a convoy of pickup trucks. Several Movement members rushed a cordon of state troopers in riot gear that surrounded the Klansmen, but were pushed back. All Klan speakers denounced Byrd's murder, which they called "unnecessary." They insisted that it was wrong to blame the
killing on white supremacists.
SHOWS:
JASPER, TEXAS, USA, 27/6
Police trying to keep crowds back;
Klan member being asked whether the rally will be peaceful;
VS Klan members in cloaks;
SOT Vox-pop local resident (English):"This is my city if I can't go in my own streets where can I go?"
SOT speaker addressing rally (English): "We are for votes and whites only";
VS New Black Panther members;
SOT Panther member: "They lied on us the last time and said our guns weren't loaded this time we're gonna let them know they're loaded";
VS closed shops;
VS crowds and police rally;
VS of KKK members;
SOT Panther member: "Now we are coming back with the real army you no good racist bastards;
JASPER, TEXAS, USA, FILE
Photo of victim James Byrd, Jr;
CU of suspect in murder,
MS of suspect handcuffed and escorted;
JASPER, TEXAS, 27/6
VS rally;
VS arrests;
CU Panther member;
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