President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection was credited for emboldening a group of people waving Nazi flags in Michigan over the weekend.
WLNS reported that the flags were seen in two cities, including at a Jewish play.
According to the report, “many people” were seen displaying flags with swastikas on Saturday night as the Fowlerville Community Theater performed the “Diary of Anne Frank.” The same group was also seen outside the American Legion Post in Howell.
“It was upsetting,” cast member Becky Frank said. “You know, just knowing the character I was playing, knowing a lot of the research that I did on my character.”
Witnesses said the protest began in Howell before moving to Fowlerville. Protesters were seen wearing masks with the number 1488, a white supremacist symbol.
“There was a group of people at the four-way intersection in downtown that had swastika flags and American flags,” witness Alex Sutfill told WLNS. “They were sticking their arms up and yelling hail Hitler and Hail Trump and everything like that.”
Peter Damerow said the group told him to go back to his country.
“They looked at me and one of them said,” Damerow recalled. “No this is Pureville now, and we’re here to make sure it stays pure.”
“I really felt like they felt comfortable enough to do this because of Trump’s re-election, and what they said to me at the stop light made that quite clear,” he added.
