CNN β Local residents confronted and drove off neo-Nazi demonstrators waving large swastika-emblazoned flags along a highway overpass on Friday between Lincoln Heights and Evendale, Ohio, home to a historically Black community that has endured a long history of racism. White nationalist groups in Ohio have recently grown increasingly brazen in expressing hateful rhetoric and racist ideologies.
Last November, Hate Club, a newly formed White supremacist organization, paraded through a Columbus neighborhood , waving swastika flags and shouting racist slurs. About a dozen neo-Nazis, wearing all black clothing and red face masks the marchers in Columbus also wore, were seen on traffic cameras waving the swastika flags.
In footage documented by CNN affiliate WLWT , people can be seen walking up to the demonstrators as police officers stood in between them. Moments within confronting them, the neo-Nazis quickly backed up, jumped into a U-Haul box truck and left the scene. Law enforcement officials at the scene can also be seen ushering the demonstrators into the U-Haul truck and waving at them to go.
Evendale is about 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati. The protestors left the area on their own. No further action was taken by the Evendale Police Department. Events organized or attended by White supremacists in the United States hit a new high in , the Anti-Defamation League reported. Who are they trying to protect? It could be a school shooter behind those masks.
CNN has reached out to the mayor, Ohio Gov. The statements from officials and law enforcement upset local residents who said the lack of effort to hold the racist demonstrators accountable will enable them to return and sends a message to Americans that what they are doing is acceptable. One by one, dozens of residents, including Talbert, showed up to form a crowd that did not hesitate to approach the neo-Nazis and pull one of their flags, which they later set on fire.
