ORLANDO, Fla. — After a small group wearing Nazi symbols was seen demonstrating and yelling antisemitic slurs in the Orlando area over the weekend, local and statewide officials issued statements condemning their actions as hateful and disturbing.
Orange Sheriff John Mina promised to “thoroughly” investigate any criminal activity by the demonstrators.
“I am aware of the anti-Semitic demonstration in Orange County,” he said in a social media post. “I along with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office deplore any type of hate speech. This hatred has no place in our society.”
Videos that spread on social media showed the group waving Nazi flags, saluting and shouting at passing cars near Alafaya Trail and Waterford Lakes Parkway on Saturday. The demonstrators were also seen getting into at least one fight in the roadway.
In a statement, the Sheriff’s Office said that it received a call about 12:15 p.m. Saturday regarding roughly 20 demonstrators who had gathered near the intersection yelling profanities and slurs at passing cars.
The agency said its investigation into the fight between several of the demonstrators and a passerby “is ongoing.” No arrests were made Saturday and the group left the area, the agency said.
A group waving Nazi flags was also seen on the Daryl Carter Parkway overpass of Interstate 4 on Sunday. The Florida Highway Patrol “immediately disbanded” the antisemitic display, according to a statement by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
“It is against the law to obstruct highway traffic or hang signs on the overpasses and violators will be prosecuted,” the agency posted on Twitter.
U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., tweeted of the neo-Nazis that “America beat their disturbing ideology before and we’ll do it again.”
“As a police commander I saw similar rallies, and I also saw that for every nazi there were a hundred Floridians there to stand up for what’s right,” she said.
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said that such demonstrations in Orlando and elsewhere in Florida “have no place in our state.”
“Across America, we’ve seen a heartbreaking & disgusting rise in hate like this,” his statement said. “We must always condemn it & continue to stand strongly with our Jewish communities.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said, “Anti-semitism and hatred are not welcome in this community.”
“Despite displays of hate in Central Florida this weekend, our collective commitment to building an inclusive, compassionate community for all is stronger than ever,” he said in a statement.
Said state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, “Hatred and anti-Semitism have NO PLACE in our community.”
“I’m appalled to see Nazi’s rallying in the East Orlando district I represent,” he tweeted Sunday. “They are NEVER welcome here. All Floridians should be alarmed by the rise of extremism and white supremacy in our state. We have to stop it!”
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