With swastika flags and bellowed slurs, neo-Nazi marchers strode through Columbus. Ohio's governor and officials condemn it

The Ohio Statehouse cupola is seen reflected in a building across the street as the Ohio burgee, the flag of the state of Ohio, flies in Columbus, Ohio, April 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Ohio officials have denounced a small contingent of neo-Nazis who paraded Saturday afternoon through a Columbus neighbourhood – waving flags featuring swastikas and shouting a racist slur – in the latest public demonstration by white nationalists in recent years across the United States.

Around a dozen people in black pants, shirts and head coverings – their faces obscured by red masks – marched along the street near downtown Columbus as three carried black flags emblazoned with red swastikas, footage provided to CNN affiliate WBNS shows.

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At least one person yelled, “N***er,” again and again, according to the video that’s garnered online attention far beyond Ohio’s capital. The group strode past low-rise brick buildings housing a salon and a clothing boutique, along with cafés serving tacos, coffee, cookies and bar grub, as its leader shouted through a black bullhorn.

Columbus public safety dispatchers got 911 calls around 1:30 p.m. reporting a group marching in the Short North area, the dispatchers told the station.

Columbus’ mayor condemned the “cowardly display” and asserted the city’s commitment to standing against “hatred and bigotry.” “We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threatened or harmed because of who they are, how they worship and whom they love,” Mayor Andrew Ginther, a Democrat, wrote on social media.

Ohio’s governor also condemned the demonstration, describing those involved as “spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews.”

“There is no place in this state for hate, bigotry, antisemitism or violence, and we must denounce it wherever we see it,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said.

The number of events organized or attended by white supremacists in the United States hit a new high last year at 282, the anti-hate Anti-Defamation League reported. Marches and public gatherings of white nationalists or people with Nazi flags have unfolded in recent years in Nashville, New Hampshire, Boston, Arkansas, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Michigan, where flags with swastikas were toted this month outside a community theatre performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

The swastika since 1945 has been the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, antisemitism and white supremacy for most of the world, with roots tracing to the murderous legacy of Germany’s Nazi Party, especially the Holocaust, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL noted that the Columbus event aligns with a troubling trend of white supremacist incidents.

“Over the past few years, hundreds of white supremacist marches and events have been organized around the country, aiming not only to instill fear and anxiety in the communities they target but also to serve as photo opportunities for these groups to use in their recruitment and online propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice-president of the ADL Center on Extremism.

“When white supremacists start competing for turf or visibility, the losers are the communities that are impacted,” Segal told CNN.

In Ohio, no arrests were made during Saturday’s event, though police briefly detained some marchers, according to WBNS. CNN has reached out to Columbus police for more information.

Columbus community leaders organized a unity march Sunday in response to Saturday’s neo-Nazi gathering, CNN affiliate WSYX reported.

“Take your flags and the masks you hide behind and go home and never come back. Your hate isn’t welcome in our city,” City Attorney Zach Klein said on social media of Saturday’s march. “This is not who we are, and we will not tolerate or normalize this disgusting ideology in any form.”