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Unwanted, skinheads shift concert location
©Associated Press
December 5, 2002
DAYTONA BEACH -- A violent white supremacist group has apparently shifted a weekend concert of hate-filled music, Hammerfest 2002, from Daytona Beach to an undisclosed site in Jacksonville.
Hammerskin Nation, which uses Confederate flags and Nazi swastikas as emblems, had planned to bring bands with names such as Attack, Definite Hate, White Wash and Intimidation One to Daytona Beach. But officials issued no permits for such an event, and said it couldn't be held without them.
Wednesday, Hammerskin Nation was telling followers through the Internet to go to the Jacksonville area instead and wait for directions to the secret concert, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
A spokesman for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office did not immediately return calls seeking information. Duty dispatch officers said they had no knowledge of such a festival coming their way.
The Hammerskins, an umbrella organization for the skinhead movement, has sponsored an annual Hammerfest since 1997, according to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Bands use lyrics that promote beating and killing nonwhites.
Cynthia Slater, president of the Daytona Beach branch of the NAACP, claimed victory with the group's apparent retreat from Daytona Beach.
"The public doesn't want this here and they moved on," she said. "But we won't rest until they know their message isn't welcome in Florida, period."
The 2001 Hammerfest was in Bremen, Ga., a small city west of Atlanta. It drew about 600 skinheads.
Hammerskin Nation's Web site offered no information on the switch late Wednesday.
Part of the Web site promoting Hammerfest 2002 warned concertgoers to not bring their children. "This is not a child friendly environment," the Web site warned.
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