Neo-Nazis storm library’s Communist Manifesto celebration in Rhode Island, cops say
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.
The building was left undamaged, according to the police report. A police car remained at the library over an hour after authorities arrived “to ensure no further disturbances.”
“While we didn’t ask for help from the police, it was only the threat of state violence that ended this disruption,” the library wrote in its Twitter thread.
“Providence is home to diverse people, cultures, and ideas and our city has no room for hate-filled actions meant to intimidate and cause fear,” Mayor Jorge Elorza wrote Feb. 22 on Twitter.
The library live-streamed the reading of the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, on Facebook to take part in the international celebration of Red Books Day and “to commemorate (the book) and its (literary) impact it has had on people’s movements, past, present and future.”
The Communist Manifesto serves as the “platform” for the Communist Party and was written in 1848, according to Britannica.
The library’s reading lasted roughly 45 minutes until it was interrupted by the neo-Nazis whose shouts can be heard near the end of the livestream.
“While we knew of and wanted to highlight the relevance and importance of the Manifesto today, we did not want it to be so stark, so ugly,” the library wrote in its Twitter thread.
“There is no greater threat to America than nazism and white supremacy,” Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC wrote Feb. 21 on Twitter.
Neo-Nazis “revere Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany and sometimes try to adopt some Nazi principles to their own times and geographic locations,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
In this instance, they waved a flag with a swastika which was the main symbol for Germany’s Nazi Party during World War II when the Holocaust occurred. This is when six million Jews were killed and targeted for systematic genocide by the Nazis.
McKee and Elorza urge anyone with information regarding the library’s interruption to contact Providence police.
“We will continue to process these events,” the library wrote on Instagram.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Neo-Nazis storm library’s Communist Manifesto celebration in Rhode Island, cops say."
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