Reply #5: Back in the summer of 1978, I was a summer associate in a big Chicago law firm.

[amandabeech]

I had fooled around during the week and had to go in on Sunday to get my work done.

My office faced Federal Plaza (I think that's the name), and I noticed that there was a crowd of 3-5,000 people and lots of cops milling around down there.

The crowd kept getting louder and louder until I couldn't work, so I stopped and watched what was going on.

Suddenly a 20-foot truck and a bunch of vans pulled up in front of the crowd. The cops jumped to control the teeming and screaming crowd.

Then a couple of Nazis, you could tell by the outfits and the flags, jumped out of the truck and pulled out a sound system and podium. The crowd seemed to leap forward, despite the huge police presence.

Then about 3 dozen Nazis piled out of the vans. Some just strutted around, but one mounted the podium and started to speak. I couldn't hear a thing because the screaming of the crowd was so loud.

The crowd went wild, and the huge number of cops, and these looked like an experienced bunch, could barely hold them back. I swear the crowd wanted to tear those Nazis limb from limb.

After about five minutes, the Nazis grabbed the podium and the sound equipment and sprinted for the truck and the vans. The drivers put the pedal to the metal, and the Nazis were out of there in a flash!

The crowd went wild with its victory celebration, and then drifted away to celebrate elsewhere.

On Monday, I asked one of the regular associates what had happened. He told me that the Nazis do occasionally do rallies, and the crowds are usually very vociferous. He said that the cops will let the Nazis speak for a few minutes, as a matter of Constitutional necessity. But after five or ten minutes, the head cop will tell the head Nazi that the cops "can no longer guarantee the safety" of the Nazis. That's the time for Nazis to make a run for it. And of course, they always do. I'm surprised that the demonstrators didn't have cars ready to chase the Nazis down Lakeshore Drive.

I did not see one Nazis supporter among the crowd, either.