State and university officials are condemning a “disgusting and repugnant” Neo-Nazi rally in Madison, Wis.
The hate-filled event this past weekend was quick to prompt public outcry among many after about 20 people dressed in red and black and masks waved large Nazi flays and made Nazi salutes while marching from a location near the UW-Madison campus to the state capitol.
“The presence of swastika flags and other Nazi symbols in our midst, along with hateful white supremacist rhetoric, is disgusting and repugnant,” University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in a statement after the unannounced march, according to the New York Post.
“I condemn the actions of this small, hateful, fringe group that has no ties to our community. And in the strongest possible way, I condemn anti-Semitism and acts of hate,” she said.
The group marched around residential and commercial areas of the city before assembling at the capitol where they lined up and shouted slogans through a bullhorn while making Nazi salutes.
The group was being actively monitored, Madison Police said in a Facebook post.
“The Madison Police Department does not support hateful rhetoric. The department has an obligation to protect First Amendment rights of all,” the agency said.
Videos and photos of the march were widely shared on social media. The organization StopAntisemitism said in a post to social-media site X that participants included members of a white supremacist group called “‘Blood Tribe.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, among the hate organization’s goals is to “normalize the swastika, usher in a resurgence of Nazi ideas and ultimately build a white ethnostate occupied, controlled and led by ‘Aryans.’”
Gov. Tony Evers and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway were among the many to speak out against the group.
“Hate has no home in Madison, and we must not let it take root here,” Rhodes-Conway said in a post on X.
“Together, we can continue to build a strong community with strong democratic institutions that respect First Amendment rights, while embracing and valuing diversity,” the mayor wrote.
Evers called the sight of neo-Nazis marching through Madison “disturbing” and “truly revolting.”