The KKK-affiliated, Indiana-based hate group that rallied in Dayton last year has applied for a permit to do it again this fall.
Last May, nine armed and mask-wearing members of the Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana rallied in downtown Dayton. They were met downtown by hundreds of police officers and counter-protestors, though the event ended peacefully.
This year, the group asked for a permit for September 5, saying at least 10 people want to speak publicly while defending "white Christian American rights."
However, officials are concerned that the timing of this year’s rally, just weeks before Election Day, could signal far greater trouble.
“It makes me very nervous,” says Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. “It has nothing to do with Dayton and everything to do with the national contest. That makes me very concerned about this.”
Whaley says the city is working to discourage the group from coming back to Dayton, including an anti-mask law, modeled on a Georgia law enacted in 1951 to combat the Ku Klux Klan.
Dayton officials say the heightened security required for the event cost more than $650,000.
