‘Emboldened to spread hate’: Leaders condemn neo-Nazi march in Ohio

Washington: They marched through the streets of Ohio waving the swastika flag, not far from the office of Donald Trump’s vice president-elect, J.D. Vance.

Dressed in black with their faces masked, the small group bellowed profanities about Jews and black people, while yelling about white power.

As the display of hate appeared on videos across social media, President Joe Biden and Republican governor Mike DeWine joined a chorus of community and political leaders condemning the incident.

But this was not the first neo-Nazi demonstration of its kind since the US election. A few days earlier, a group of masked protesters was seen waving Nazi flags near a production of The Diary of Anne Frank in Michigan, shouting racist slurs in the carpark outside the venue where the play about the young Holocaust victim was being held.

One army veteran who filmed the group told Detroit TV network WXYZ that people attending the play were shocked and frightened.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.Credit: AP

“We had 75 people downstairs that watched that play, and out of that 75, there were 50 or 60 of them that were afraid to leave this building,” said the veteran, Bobby Brite. “We had to escort them to their cars. Nobody in America should feel like that.”

The Ohio incident, captured on social media, took place on Saturday afternoon (US time) when Columbus police began to receive reports about a dozen people carrying black flags with red swastikas on them. Police had responded to a report that someone had been pepper-sprayed by one of the neo-Nazis.

No one had been arrested, police said, because there wasn’t probable cause to charge anyone.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates described the demonstration as a “sickening display”, saying in a statement: “Hate directed against any of us is a threat to every single one of us.”

DeWine also issued a statement, saying: “We will not tolerate hate in Ohio.”

“Neo-Nazis, their faces hidden behind red masks, roamed the streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of colour and Jews,” the Republican said. “There were reports that they were also espousing white power sentiments. There is no place in this state for hate, bigotry, antisemitism or violence, and we must denounce it wherever we see it.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the march, although some believe that Trump’s election is fuelling extremist groups and individuals who are pushing racist, misogynist or otherwise hateful rhetoric.

Neo-Nazi marchers shouted racist slurs and other profanities on the streets of Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday.Credit: X/@YahiaLababidi

For instance, sexist attacks on women, such as “your body, my choice” and “get back to the kitchen”, have intensified across social media since Trump’s re-election, according to an analysis from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

The “your body” phrase is believed to have originated from white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who once had dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. On the night of the election, Fuentes posted: “Your body, my choice. Forever”, which was viewed more than 90 million times and reposted more than 35,000 times within a week.

After Kamala Harris’ defeat, racist text messages from unrecognised phone numbers referencing “slave catchers” and “picking cotton” were also sent to black women and university students in Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Far-right activist Nick Fuentes at a pro-Trump march in 2020.Credit: AP

This prompted Derrick Johnson, president of the civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, to issue a statement laying the blame directly on Trump.

“The unfortunate reality of electing a president who, historically, has embraced, and at times encouraged hate, is unfolding before our eyes,” he said.

“These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results.”

Ohio, where nationalists have marched before, came under scrutiny after the presidential debate when Trump elevated debunked conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of local residents – a theory neo-Nazis had been trying to launch into the mainstream for weeks.

“This is what real power looks like,” wrote a member of one neo-Nazi group, the Blood Tribe, on its Telegram channel.

Trump and Vance are yet to comment about the latest incident in Ohio.

The demonstration comes at a time when antisemitism has intensified in the US, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza. Nearly half of Americans now rate it as a “very serious” issue – much higher than the 9 per cent when Gallup measured this in 2003.

In 2023, the American Defamation League recorded its highest number of white supremacist propaganda incidents, with 7567 cases – a 12 per cent rise from 2022.

“There was also a 30 per cent increase in specifically antisemitic propaganda, rising to 1112 incidents in 2023 from 852 incidents in 2022,” the league said. “This increase was largely due to the white supremacist group Patriot Front reincorporating antisemitic phrases into their propaganda. It was also buoyed by anti-Zionist and anti-Israel sentiment following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.”

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