By Erwin Marquit

People's Weekly World

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A peaceful but noisy "Can the Klan" counterdemonstration of 1,500 here Aug. 26 made it clear that Minnesota will not be hospitable to the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups.

In an attempt to establish a Minnesota branch, a Mercer, Wisc.-based Ku Klux Klan unit held a White Pride Rally on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol.

The message of hate from the 46 KKK members and supporters was completely drowned out by the the shouts of "racists go home" and a variety of antiracist slogans and shouts.

The anti-KKK demonstration showed that KKK terrorists would not have been able to gather on the steps of the capitol without the 80 state troopers that fenced them off from the anti-Klan protesters. The "Can the Klan" rally was organized by a broad coalition of antiracist community organizations and activists.

A "family-friendly" anti-Klan rally initiated by the YWCA and cosponsored by the St. Paul AFL-CIO Trades and Labor Assembly the evening before drew some 500 people. Although some speakers urged people not to give the Klan publicity and stay away from the "Can the Klan" demonstration the next day, others, including Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), said they would be at the capitol to confront the Klan.

The conservative Republican mayor of St. Paul, who will be running against Wellstone in next year's Senate election, sponsored a party at a local high school during the anti-Klan demonstration in order to draw people away from the capitol. His ice-cream-and-cake party drew only a hundred people.