At least 80 people turned out to protest after a Ku Klux Klan sign was displayed in Dahlonega Thursday.
The protesters were not exclusively protesting the KKK. Rumors have circulated that the owner of the shop where the sign was displayed was trying to stir up controversy over the building.
"This whole this is just apparently a cheap stunt to give the building some bad publicity, because she wants to tear it down and put a hotel in there," said Ollie Wolff Pruitt, the owner of Bad Dog Screenprinting in Dahlonega. She spoke to AccessWDUN over the phone from the protest Friday evening around 5:30 p.m.
"It's definitely not a riot, everyone is being very civil. None of the signs are political... everyone here is definitely not on board with this ploy."
The aforementioned sign displayed Thursday indicated the building was a former meeting place for the KKK, and was removed because it violated a sign ordinance. Friday, Dahlonega Mayor Gary McCullough confirmed that Roberta Green had, through her manager, requested an application for a sign permit for the same building where the KKK sign had been displayed.
Lumpkin County authorities confirmed they were at the scene of the protest in case the peace was broken. Pruitt confirmed there was a police presence, but it wasn't menacing and they were not needing to disturb the protest, nor did she feel like there were any "concerns of danger."
University of North Georgia student Cale Hatch spoke with AccessWDUN following the protest.
"I'd call it more of a demonstration of unity and support, I wouldn't really call it a protest, only a few people were protesting the KKK there. Most people were holding up different signs with messages of love and support," he said. "I wanted to demonstrate myself that the event everyone was there for wasn't representative of the city or the college and that Dahlonega is actually a very loving city and not at all the kind of city that sign would suggest."
Hatch said he had heard about 250 people were at the protest, and he said that felt accurate. He also said he and his friends heard about the protest online.
