Georgia panel says no to white supremacist rally at Stone Mountain
ATLANTA _ White supremacists had planned on capitalizing on the international attention drawn to Atlanta during Super Bowl LIII to stage a rally at Stone Mountain next February, but the state body that oversees the park said no.
In a Nov. 7 letter, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association denied a permit to "Rock Stone Mountain II" organizers Greg Calhoun and John Estes citing a "clear and present danger" to public safety. Calhoun and Estes were among those behind the original Rock Stone Mountain, a 2016 "white power" rally that drew a handful of Confederate flag-waving white supremacists and hundreds of counterprotesters who clashed with police for hours, eventually shutting down the park.
News of the park's decision coincides with the annual release of the FBI's hate crime statistics, which show a 17 percent increase in bias crimes in 2017 over the prior year.
_The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
