Roughly 20 neo-Nazis with a swastika flag stormed a library’s reading of the Communist Manifesto as it celebrated the book’s 174th anniversary, police in Rhode Island said. The state’s governor condemned the group’s display in Providence on Feb. 21 and called it “unacceptable and disgusting.” “There is no place for hate in our communities or state,” Gov. Dan McKee wrote Feb. 22 on Twitter. The neo-Nazis were caught slamming on the front window of Red Ink Community Library when Providence police cars pulled up, prompting the crowd to “disperse” to their nearby vehicles and leave, according to a police report obtained by McClatchy News. “They showed up on our sidewalk, banged on our glass windows, shouted horrible slurs, and attempted to assault our members,” the library wrote in a Feb. 21 Twitter thread. “As they outnumbered us at maybe 10:1, there was little we could do other than tell them to go home and try to stay safe indoors.” No arrests have been made as of Tuesday (Feb. 22) afternoon, police spokesperson Lindsay Lague told McClatchy News. Video footage taken from inside the library, shared by Twitter user @guateguanaco, shows a big, red and black swastika flag being held up to the library’s window as shouts from the neo-Nazi crowd can be heard from outside. The user who posted the video self-identifies as a “communist” and wrote that the group “demanded” entrance.
via the news tribune: Neo-Nazis storm library’s Communist Manifesto celebration in Rhode Island, cops say