A version of this article was originally published in The Daily Brief, our Maine politics newsletter. Sign up here for daily news and insight from politics editor Michael Shepherd.
About 25 neo-Nazis rallied near the State House in Augusta on Saturday.
The Maine Department of Public Safety called it “peaceful,” though video posted by the demonstrators showed members doing Nazi chants and directing racial slurs at a passing vehicle carrying people of color.
The hate group NSC-131 documented their rally and said Christopher Pohlhaus, a nationally known neo-Nazi who is building a training ground for supporters in Springfield, was among the attendees. That activity has already prompted calls for action from some politicians, and the rally near the hall of state government could speed along any policy response.
The context: Pohlhaus has said he is training people for a violent war. The paramilitary activity on his land has been the focus of concern from political figures and one security expert who called the situation a potential security risk to the area. Lawmakers in both political parties have said police may be within their rights to step in and shut the activity down.
That is not at all clear, however. Maine law says no group of people other than federal or state military forces “may join together as a military organization or parade in public with firearms.” Half of states have more specific laws barring paramilitary activity, including Vermont, but Maine does not have it.
Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, who has been the most outspoken Maine politician against Pohlhaus to date, has said lawmakers are considering a Vermont-like law to address the situation, adding last week that action is needed this spring and should not wait any longer.
What’s next: After the NSC-131 protesters unfurled their “KEEP NEW ENGLAND WHITE” banner in front of the State House steps on Saturday, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, issued a statement saying she would “be relentless in driving a campaign against this racist behavior that has no place in Maine.”
It is unclear whether lawmakers have the tools to address this exact behavior. Free-speech rights shield the kind of rally that Augusta saw over the weekend, no matter how abhorrent that speech is. But that step could push lawmakers to get more specific in trying to stop the armed activity in rural Maine.
