MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Local counter protesters are approached by city police during a National Socialist Movement march at Brandon Park Saturday afternoon.

The preemptive measures taken by law enforcement at all levels successfully intercepted the neo-Nazi group, whose leader failed to decieve the city into a false security, Saturday.

After telling reporters and law enforcement they’d heed the city’s permit request denial, a group of 15 armed neo-Nazis went to Brandon Park at about 1 p.m. and left within 45 minutes as police kept them separated from a group of shouting bystanders during their departure.

The National Socialist Movement members arrived in three vans and parked in the eastern lot along Elizabeth Street where they were under constant surveillance by a legion of officers.

Dressed in black and red, with AR-15s, semi-automatic shotguns and handguns strapped to their hips, they paraded around the Bandshell with their flags that combined the swastika and American flag.

City police Chief Damon Hagan said he never deviated from the original plan that was devised when the neo-Nazis first intended to hold a march.

“Their presence was clearly a protest to the fact that their permit request was denied,” he said. “They came and they protested, we provided security in the area.”

City police worked with federal, state and local officials to outline a plan to execute whether the NSM came or not, he said.

“We’re very happy with the way things turned out — no injuries, no property damage. So yes, I’m happy with the way things turned out,” he said. “I think it was a smart move to go ahead and keep our plans in place and things worked out.”

That plan included setting 45 barriers around the two city synagogues, Temple Beth-Ha-Shalom on Center Street and Ohev Sholom Congregation on Cherry Street, with a large number of patrols circling the neighborhoods.

A large unit of mounted troopers from the state police also arrived in the area at about 11 a.m., and used a parking lot at Pennsylvania College of Technology as a staging area. Their vehicles nearly filled the entire lot as troopers in both camouflage and uniforms readied their riot gear. Some plain-clothes officers were also in their ranks.

“When we have that need, we reach out to our partners, we came together as a team to come up with a really good plan and it worked out well,” said Hagan. “We’re here to protect the citizens of the city of Williamsport, and if necessary we’re going to call in help and work together as a team to do that.”

Originally the NSM cooperated with their original permit denial in April, but after it was cancelled for July 18 the members continued to publicly announce their intention to come to Williamsport.

“Then they changed that message recently to the fact that they were not coming,” he said.

Media outlets reached out to Burt Colucci, commander of the NSM, who again said it was not his intention to come to the city.

“They changed their mind, apparently, and did come and we were ready for that,” he said.

In consultation with the city solicitor, Hagan said citizens still have a right to protest without a permit as long as it remains peaceful. Insomuch as the protest remained non-violent, the showing by the neo-Nazis was legal.

Shouting racial slurs and ideology, the members walked back toward their vehicles along Brandon Place and toward the baseball field at about 1:30 p.m.

The group, using a megaphone, spent several minutes taunting onlookers, specifically naming the mayor, who was not present, and political systems as other members of the group stood by with shields and riot helmets.

As they headed toward their vehicles, a group of about 11 law enforcement officers from various departments pulled south on Elizabeth Street in a River Valley Transit bus and quickly flooded the area on foot.

A group of about six local people approached from the north and began shouting at the neo-Nazis but were intercepted and stopped by law enforcement.

“Let us handle it, let us do our jobs,” an officer was heard saying to the neo-Nazis, who then started yelling among themselves to ignore the shouting bystanders and began quickly packing their materials into their vans.

While driving away, the neo-Nazis continued to shout from the windows of their vehicle.

Convinced the threat had finally left the area, officials called all units to stand down at 3:30 p.m.

A spokesman for the Jewish community in Williamsport said he was very grateful to everyone involved.

“There were members of various non-jewish faiths that reached out with a lot of support,” he said. “We’re glad it was peaceful and all the governmental agencies, city and county, worked well to make sure that everybody was safe and that no one’s rights were violated.”

All the preparation, which may have been several months, was warranted, said the spokesmen.

Butch Anthony, a 25-year veteran of the city fire department, who lives in the 400 block of West Edwin Street and was inside of the barriers near Temple Beth-Ha-Shalom said he was thankful for police presence there.

“I have to admire the mayor, police department, parks department, fire department — all of them for what they’ve done in being proactive,” he said. “If they didn’t become proactive like this and all of a sudden they came here, it could turn out to be something that wouldn’t be very nice.”

In his many years of living in the city, Anthony said he’s never seen anything like the preparation that took place.

“This is a good city, we’re no different than a lot of other places that are having issues — people’s ideas are not always our ideas.”

It is, however, frightening to see how far the city needed to go to keep people safe, he said.

“This is the new America I think, and it kind of scares me. Not for me but for our kids and grandkids,” he said.

Law enforcement officials instructed units to remain operational until further notice soon after they left, at about 2:10 p.m, and by 2:45 p.m. had begun asking for the removal of the concrete barriers around the city synagogues.

Keith Veldhuis and his family, who live near Ohev Sholom Congregation, left for the day to avoid any neo-Nazi threat, were only just arriving back as the concrete barriers were being removed, said the hardest part was explaining the situation to his young children.

“It’s a good life lesson for my kids but one that I’m glad they didn’t have to see,” he said.

At times his children play in the synagogue’s yard, but that wouldn’t be happening for a few days.

“There’s a group of people that could come. They’re protecting the building, which means something could happen to the building,” he said in explaining the situation to his children.

“I’m just glad that it’s done.” said Veldhuis.

He fully supported everything done to help keep the community safe.

“Even thinking that the group wasn’t going to come, they still planned for it, and were cordial,” he said. “I think they did a really good job, we have been saying that it’s probably an overreaction, but we’d much rather have a presence and be over-reactionary than nothing.

“I think it sends the message: You told us you weren’t coming, and we’re still prepared — don’t come back,” he added.