Ohio officials have denounced a small contingent of neo-Nazis who paraded Saturday afternoon through a Columbus neighborhood – waving flags featuring swastikas and shouting a racist slur – in the latest public demonstration by White nationalists in recent years across the United States.
Around a dozen people in black pants, shirts and head coverings – their faces obscured by red masks – marched along the street near downtown Columbus as three carried black flags emblazoned with red swastikas, footage shows.
At least one person yelled, “N***er,” again and again, according to the video that’s garnered online attention far beyond Ohio’s capital. The group strode past low-rise brick buildings housing a salon and a clothing boutique, along with cafés serving tacos, coffee, cookies and bar grub, as its leader shouted through a black bullhorn.
Columbus public safety dispatchers got 911 calls around 1:30 p.m. reporting a group marching in the Short North area, the dispatchers told the station.
Columbus’ mayor condemned the “cowardly display” and asserted the city’s commitment to standing against “hatred and bigotry.” “We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threatened or harmed because of who they are, how they worship and whom they love,” Mayor Andrew Ginther, a Democrat, wrote on social media.
Read more on CNN