COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and multiple Columbus city officials made their thoughts known Saturday after receiving earlier reports that a group of neo-Nazis marched in the Short North Arts District.
NBC4 received multiple eyewitness accounts and video around 1:45 p.m. of the march, which showed at least eleven people wearing masks walking down the sidewalk. The group carried flags bearing swastikas near the intersection of 1st Avenue and North High Street, and also shouted obscenities into a megaphone. DeWine, who denounced the group’s actions, also confirmed more details of the incident.
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“We will not tolerate hate in Ohio,” DeWine wrote. “Neo-Nazis — their faces hidden behind red masks — roamed streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews. There were reports that they were also espousing white power sentiments.”
City Council President Shannon Hardin rejected the group’s “pathetic efforts to promote fear and hate.”