Neo-Nazis salute ‘Heil’ in ritzy downtown Greenwich, Conn., in sickening display: ‘Hate from all sides’
Hitler-saluting neo-Nazis descended on ritzy Greenwich, Conn., and chanted “Heil” while doing a one-armed salute during a sickening display over the weekend.
Masked goons from the neo-Nazi group NSC-131 traveled from out of town Saturday to demonstrate outside Greenwich Town Hall, where they carried signs reading “New England is ours the rest must go” and “Anti-whites FAFO” — with the acronym standing for “F–k around and find out.”
From there they marched in formation through downtown Greenwich, before assembling on a street corner with their vile banners while barking “Seig Heil,” flashing the Nazi salute and leering at passersby.
“Nazis showing up in Greenwich and yelling ‘Heil’ with their arms raised? Not supposed to happen in 2024,” a Greenwich resident and member of the local Jewish community, Jolie Goldring, told The Post.
“As Jews, we are literally getting it from every which way, shape and form.”
The Nazi group — a subsect of NSC-131 called the Peoples Initiative for New England — is dedicated to creating a “white homeland” in the Northeast and seceding from the rest of the US.
The losers claimed they showed up to protest against what they claimed was a racially motivated assault on a white teen in a Greenwich park.
In that incident, which was caught on camera and went viral online, a white girl was beaten up by a pair of black girls while a crowd jeered around them.
The fight was reportedly sparked by the white girl calling the others the N-word.
The girl who was attacked was treated for minor injuries, while at least two assailants were arrested.
The Nazis, however, demanded that hate crimes charges be filed against the suspects, whom they called “minorities who ruthlessly attack our people.”
Despite the menacing vitriol of the neo-Nazis, Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo said their appearance was protected under the First Amendment and that without violence or action, there was no cause to drive them from town.
“They did not break any laws, as abhorrent and disgusting as their message was,” Camillo told The Post, characterizing them as attention-seekers to whom the people of Greenwich must respond with the kind of civility of which such bigots are incapable.
“Had they crossed the line there, were there would have been consequences,” he added, noting that local police were aware the Nazis were coming, and monitored them throughout the rally.
For local Jews, however, such words of assurance have done little to soften the shock of what they saw — especially in light of anti-Israel protests and rising antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“We feel we are in a vise. Hate from all sides,” Goldring said.
“If it’s happening here, it’s going to happen somewhere else, and it’s going to happen in other places, and soon stupid uneducated people might believe them,” she said through tears.
“It’s just really hard to see and hear someone saying ‘Heil Hitler’ down the street from where I live.”
With a child in college, Goldring has been worried sick over safety since the protests have taken hold on so many US campuses.
And now, Nazis marching in her own neighborhood has pushed her to speak out.
“This is full circle now for me. I’ve got to worry about that. And I have to worry about neo-Nazis hating me because I’m Jewish, in my town that is supposed to be a very progressive, well-educated, polished, cultured area.”
“It’s the layers and layers and layers of antisemitism that we’re feeling from the left, from the right. We don’t know who to talk to. We don’t know who to trust. Where’s this president?” she said.
“My heart is heavy, I don’t know. It’s hard to breathe with this much hate, and violence.”
