Security stepped up as white nationalists plan to protest Knoxville Women's March Sunday

Organizers for the Knoxville Women's March have changed the route and stepped up security measures after reports that white nationalists plan to protest the march this weekend.

The Women's March was originally scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Sunday from Market Square but has been relocated to an enclosed area in Krutch Park and will follow a different route than last year.

The march will coincide with similar events across the nation that are taking place on the anniversary of the Women's March on Washington, a national protest against President Donald Trump and his policies that took place the day after his inauguration.

Last year's march in Knoxville drew about 5,000 participants waving signs denouncing Trump, homophobia and attacks on Planned Parenthood, among other issues.

The Women's March Coalition of East Tennessee is expecting a similar, if not larger turnout, for this year's event, said coalition spokeswoman Kimberly Peterson.

"Our purpose is mainly a celebration," Peterson said. "It’s a positive, upbeat event. Our participants have certain values, and even in a tough presidential year there were a lot of successes. That’s been the theme of our event - to celebrate successes." 

White nationalist group plans to protest march

Peterson said the group has been made aware of plans for white nationalists to protest the event and said they are working with the Knoxville Police Department to ensure the safety of participants.

Participants in the march will be asked to go through a security screening to access an enclosed area of the park where speakers and a rally are scheduled.

There will be a bag inspection and weapons and bottles will not be allowed into the enclosed area. Police and the city will provide water for participants.

The route of the march has not yet been laid out, but it will require participants to leave the enclosed area, Peterson said.

However, she noted that the route will be secured so that "anyone who wasn't at the rally won't be able to just jump in and march."

Only participants in the Women's March will be allowed into the enclosed area, while protesters will be assigned to a separate space.

In the last year it has grown increasingly common for white nationalists and hate groups to have a visible presence in Knoxville and elsewhere. 

Read more: Thousands march in support of women’s rights in Market Square

Matthew Heimbach, the founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party, a white nationalist group that seeks a whites-only nation state, posted on the organization's website Friday about plans to protest the Knoxville march. 

The post focused in particular on anti-abortion and anti-feminist beliefs.

"As the defenders and advocates of women and our children, the Traditionalist Worker Party is taking a stand in Knoxville Tennessee on Sunday January 21st against the proposed feminist march and in support of the March for Life being held the same day," the post said. "Any movement that doesn’t defend the sanctity of life is not a movement worth having. If we are to build a free nation for our children, we must first secure life for our children."

Group calls on March for Life to denounce TWP

The March for Life, organized by the group Tennessee Right to Life, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday and will begin at the amphitheater at World's Fair Park. 

The Holler Network, a group aimed at combating racism and white supremacy in Appalachia, issued a news release Tuesday calling on Tennessee Right to Life to denounce participation by TWP. 

"Just as they want to go back to a day when people of color were the property of whites, these white supremacists want to impose an extremist patriarchal society in which women are the property of men," said Holler Network member Natalie Simone in the release.

"They want to try to intimidate us but we refuse to give into fear. We are confident that the Knoxville community will stand together for a feminist society and show that these white supremacists are not welcome in this town.”

Stacy Dunn, director of the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life, said the group does not condone supremacist beliefs and they are also working with the Knoxville Police Department on a safety plan for Sunday.

"We don't want our supporters to be harassed or bullied," she said. "We have a single agenda, to support the rights of mothers and the unborn, and we don't agree with the radical, violent agenda of white supremacists or Antifa." 

Organizer says women's march here to stay

The national Women's March movement was organized in response to the divisive rhetoric of the 2016 campaign cycle and comments by President Trump regarded as anti-women or ignorant of other issues such as science and human rights. 

Among the issues cited by Peterson as local political victories in Knoxville in the last year were an unprecedented number of women elected to serve on Knoxville City Council and the preservation of language protecting transgender faculty and students in Knox County Schools' policies.

She also said those who plan to participate in the march were eager to celebrate the decision by University of Tennessee campuses to not outsource facilities maintenance jobs.

"That's going to be the focus of the march, to celebrate the success of the last year, not to be a negative and angry fest, complaining and anti-Trump and that kind of thing," Peterson said. "It's mainly acknowledging that we have more work to do but even in a tough political climate we got a lot of good things done." 

She said she foresees the march becoming an annual event.

"Really, it's been kind of a grassroots movement," she said. "People wanted that space to get together, to have that camaraderie again and to highlight the successes and look to the future and the things we need to get done in 2018."