(Reuters) – A small group of masked protesters, waving Nazi flags and wearing white supremacist symbols on their clothing, marched outside a Michigan theater during a performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank” last weekend .
A local ABC affiliate obtained video of the small group outside the American Legion post in Howell, Michigan, where the incident occurred last Saturday. The Fowlerville Community Theater troupe, which performed the play about a Jewish girl who kept a diary while hiding from the German occupation of Amsterdam during World War II, confirmed the incident.
The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, which responded to the incident, did not return calls seeking details.
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The Howell Police Department said the incident occurred outside of its jurisdiction and it had no comment. Calls to the Howell mayor’s office were not returned.
The theater group said in a statement that it became aware of the Nazi demonstration during the play’s first act and was informed that the situation was under control and that protesters had been removed from the property. The group informed the public about the situation at halftime.
The theater group said it has strived to tell the story of “real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust”.
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“The presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those hiding” from the Nazis during World War II, the group said.
Bobby Brite, former commander of the American Legion post in Howell, about 60 miles northwest of Detroit, recorded video of the protest.
“People were shocked. They were horrified,” he told WXYZ TV, an ABC affiliate.
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“We had 75 people downstairs who watched the play, and of those 75, 50 or 60 were afraid to leave the building,” Brite told WXYZ TV.
“We had to walk them to their cars. No one in America should feel this way.”
WXYZ reported that there were no physical confrontations as a result of the Nazi protest, but some of the veteran members of the American Legion post argued with the protesters.
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In July, about a dozen protesters waving Nazi flags marched through Howell, chanting “Heil Hitler,” according to the Livingston Daily newspaper.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado)
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