Montana officials critical of planned white-nationalist march through hometown of alt-right leader

WHITEFISH, Mont., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Elected officials in Montana took a stand Tuesday against white nationalists who have been encouraging an anti-Semitic backlash against Jews and have been planning a march "against Jews" for mid-January in the hometown of a leader of the alt-right movement.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke and state Attorney General Tim Fox issued an open letter Tuesday afternoon denouncing white supremacists who have ratcheted up hate-filled messages in recent weeks and are planning an armed march for the town of Whitefish.

The march, reportedly planned for the second week of January before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, is said attract as many as 200 racists to the town to stand "against Jews, Jewish businesses and everyone who supports either."

"We stand firmly together to send a clear message that ignorance, hatred and threats of violence are unacceptable and have no place in the town of Whitefish, or in any other community in Montana or across this nation," Montana's elected officials wrote. "We say to those few who seek to publicize anti-Semitic views that they shall find no safe haven here."

As white nationalists have been emboldened since Trump won the presidential election -- he has denounced them but many members of the so-called alt-right movement have claimed credit for his victory -- anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi messages have increased in volume.

Richard Spencer, one of the leading voices of the white supremacists in the U.S. and person who named the "alt-right movement," is from Whitefish and, since the election, his mother has been harassed as people attempted to convince her to disavow her son's stated beliefs.

In defense of Spencer, The Daily Stormer, a racist website not linked to him, started publishing personal information about progressive activists and Jewish people living in the town while suggesting they be harassed in retribution. Andrew Anglin, who runs the website, has been planning the rally and suggested participants could carry weapons with them during the event -- should it happen.

"We are planning an armed protest in Whitefish," Anglin wrote on the site. "Montana has extremely liberal open carry laws, so my lawyer is telling me we can easily march through the center of the town carrying high-powered rifles."

Anglin has offered a litany of terms for potentially calling off the rally, including requiring a guarantee for anti-racist activists to leave Spencer's mother alone, but elected officials in the state outright pushed back against the rally, saying it was wholly unacceptable regardless of any other circumstances.

"Any demonstration or threat of intimidation against any Montanan's religious liberty will not be tolerated," the officials wrote. "It takes all Montanans working together to eradicate religious intolerance. We are encouraged that so many Montanans from a variety of religious backgrounds have joined us in condemning this extreme ideology."