Supremacist Plans 2nd Simi Valley March

SIMI VALLEY — White supremacist Richard Barrett, whose recent Simi Valley parade was aborted by police after a violent counterdemonstration erupted, says he wants to return for a second try, this time under the protection of the National Guard.

“We will be in touch with the city and the county and governor’s office,” Barrett said by telephone from his Mississippi office last week. “We’re going to ask that the National Guard be activated if First Amendment rights and law and order cannot be ensured by Simi Valley local authorities.”

A California National Guard spokesman said only city or county authorities can request the troops--and Simi Valley officials are unlikely to do so.

“It sounds absurd to me,” said Simi Valley Police Chief Lindsey P. Miller. “He was protected when he was here last time. He didn’t get hurt.”

More than 100 Simi Valley police officers and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies guarded Barrett and six supporters June 6 in the City Hall parking lot. Barrett was there to march in support of the not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating trial, which was held at the East County Courthouse.

When a few of the 300 counterdemonstrators threw soda cans and cursed the supremacists, police called off the parade and whisked Barrett and his followers away for their own safety. Six counterdemonstrators were arrested.

The police chief does not plan to call the National Guard if Barrett returns, but he may bring in more officers. “If he tries it again, we may need more people,” Miller said. “It depends on how large a crowd he attracts.”

In interviews last week, officials in several other cities where Barrett has marched said the attorney should not be underestimated. They said he has repeatedly stirred up strong emotions in communities where racial tensions exist and has run up hefty law enforcement bills.

Barrett and a handful of followers marched through downtown Atlanta in 1989 and near Martin Luther King Jr.’s tomb in 1990. On each occasion, more than 2,000 National Guard troops and police officers were called out to protect the supremacists. “His two trips to Atlanta probably cost the citizens of Georgia about $1 million,” said John Bankhead, a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

When city and school officials have tried to block his plans, Barrett has taken them to court--and beaten them in several cases.

In 1987, in Natchez, Miss., where the firing of a black school employee had triggered racial unrest, city officials denied Barrett an immediate parade permit, saying the city code required a 30-day review period. A court overturned the decision and required the city to pay Barrett’s legal fees.

Barrett and five associates marched as 300 to 500 counterdemonstrators denounced him. Although no violence erupted, Natchez police spent more than $25,000 for extra officers and other protective measures.