Leaders in Ohio condemned a group of neo-Nazis parading around a section of Columbus Saturday afternoon carrying swastika flags.
Columbus Public Safety dispatchers said CBS affiliate WBNS On Saturday they received multiple 911 calls around 1:30 a.m. about a group of individuals marching in the city's Short North.
Video sent to the station showed about a dozen people marching down the street wearing black pants, shirts and head coverings and red masks covering their mouths. Three of them were carrying black flags with red swastikas.
It was not immediately clear who was in the group.
Hours after the incident, Mayor Andrew Ginther issued a statement Saying that the city rejects the “cowardly display” and that it “stands against hatred and bigotry.”
“We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, bullied, or harmed because of who they are, how they worship, or who they love,” Ginther said in a statement shared on X.
City attorney Zack Klein said in a statement on x Those attending the neo-Nazi march should “take away your flags and the masks you hide behind and go home and never return. Your hatred is not welcome in our city.”
“That is not who we are and we will not tolerate or normalize this hateful ideology in any way,” he said.
Gov. Mike DeWine said in his statement that those involved in the incident were “contributing hateful and racist speech against people of color and Jews.”
“There is no place for hatred, bigotry, anti-Semitism or violence in this state, and we must condemn it wherever we see it,” he said.
Columbus Division Police Sgt. Joseph Albert told WNBS that no arrests were made, although he said several people were detained but later released.
Columbus, Ohio's largest city, is located about 45 minutes from Springfield, where The Columbus Dispatch reports that neo-Nazis marched This summer the city became through the streets center point of false claims About Haitian immigrants in the presidential election.