On a beautiful spring day, one fringe group yelled at another fringe group for several hours Saturday in Wheaton, costing DuPage County taxpayers about $35,000.
A few hours later, Rolling Meadows was treated to half the display. But it cost Cook County taxpayers about the same.
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held rallies in Wheaton and Rolling Meadows, their first official appearances in the Chicago area since 1989. But the 15 Klansmen were far outnumbered by police, media and counter-demonstrators.
Heavy police deployments greatly reduced the chances of severe violence, though several scuffles broke out in Wheaton among Klansmen, their supporters and a group of about 100 demonstrators from the Progressive Labor Party, a communist organization from Chicago.
The Rolling Meadows event, which the communist group did not attend, was more peaceful.
“We’re very fortunate that we haven’t had anybody get hurt,” said DuPage County Sheriff Richard Doria, who oversaw a police contingent of 150 at the Wheaton rally. Officers came from Doria’s office, the Illinois State Police, the Cook County Forest Preserve District’s horse patrol and the Naperville, Westmont and Wheaton Police Departments.
While members of the Arkansas-based Klan rallied on the steps of the DuPage County Judicial Center in Wheaton, several other groups staged anti-Klan protests. In a separate parking lot near the courthouse, the cheerful sounds of a mariachi band competed with Klan speakers and chanting, jeering crowds.
“There is too much confrontation in the world and in the United States,” said Fernando Rico of the Bensenville-based Hispanic Council, which organized the alternative gathering. “We’re here to occupy a civilized space.”
That also was the message at a morning news conference held by a coalition of nine organizations at the Glen Ellyn YWCA. Several speakers called for unity in the face of divisiveness.
“I think it’s unfortunate that the climate of America allows the Klan and organizations like it to feel they can come out and hold a membership rally,” said James Rickmond, president of the NAACP’s DuPage County branch. “Silence and permissiveness breeds intolerance.”
At the DuPage courthouse, police used metal detectors and a fenced-in buffer zone to separate demonstrators with the Progressive Labor Party, who were advocating violence against the Klan, from the Klansmen, who were speaking on the courthouse steps.
But police were not counting on some of the Klansmen’s sympathizers, including various skinheads and neo-Nazis, being among the 400 or so spectators who gathered to hear the Klansmen speak. In most instances, jeers, boos and shouting from the crowd drowned out the Klansmen.
As a result, a few shouting matches and minor fights broke out involving Klan supporters. But police surged into each confrontation and evicted people from the crowd. No charges were filed.
Doria broke up one fight between representatives of the two groups.
“I have a nasty habit of forgetting I’m an old fart and shouldn’t get involved in this anymore,” he said.
In Rolling Meadows, about 50 Klan supporters and about 250 anti-Klan demonstrators showed up.
Four juveniles were arrested during the Rolling Meadows demonstration, three for throwing eggs. But they were all released after the rally.
Doria and Wheaton police Cmdr. Terry Leonard estimated that the cost of the police protection for the Wheaton demonstration would approach $35,000. Leonard said Wheaton had not budgeted for such an event, so “some other programs will have to suffer.”
The cost of security for the Rolling Meadows rally was expected to be about the same. About 200 officers from the state, the Cook County sheriff’s police, the Forest Preserve District and the Rolling Meadows and Arlington Heights Police Departments were at the Rolling Meadows demonstration.
“It did cost us a pretty penny in overtime,” said Len Marak, commander with the Cook County sheriff’s police.
Klan members said their rallies were part of a nationwide effort to recruit new members. The Klan also held two rallies Saturday in Florida.
