A spacey religious group flew a banner with a swastika on it over Coney Island and the Rockaways on Saturday.
The Raelian religion shelled out $2,000 to rent a plane to pull an advertising banner aimed at changing minds about Adolf Hitler’s Nazi symbol.
The banner was part of what the Raelians call “International Swastika Rehabilitation Week,” which ended Saturday.
“By keeping the negative connotation of the swastika and linking it to Hitler, you only give credit to this guy’s monstrosity,” said Thomas Kaenzig, a Raelian spokesman, who believe the symbol arrived on Earth millions of years ago — on the same spacecraft that brought our ancestors. “It’s very important to reclaim it and explain to the public that this symbol has a beautiful origin,” he said.
But locals disagreed.
“Whenever I see a swastika, I think about white supremacy,” said Arverne resident Cuauni Lee, 46, who saw the banner in the Rockaways.
“It was horrific,” said Ariel Creamer, 14, who saw the banner near her home in Belle Harbor. Several of her relatives were killed in the Holocaust, she said.