A group of people unfurled flags with neo-Nazi signs on Saturday outside the Tampa Convention Center, an hour before former President Donald Trump addressed a conservative student event.
Other major Republican figures in the country also spoke at the event, such as
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Senator Ted Cruz, among others.
The event, attended by 5,000 people, sparked the outrage of activists and civil rights organizations who view this with concern.
"The open and proud display of genocidal symbols is a direct threat to the Jewish community," Florida Holocaust Museum President Mikel Igel said in an email to the local Tampa affiliate of CBS.
The second day of the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event was preceded by a march of approximately 100 people, according to the Creative Loafing Tampa portal, which showed photos of several people waving
flags that read: "DeSantis Country"
Also, according to what a witness told the publication, the Goyim Defense League group distributed flyers in which they said "all aspects of abortion are Jewish."
According to the Anti-Defamation League this is an extremist organization that was responsible for at least 74 incidents of anti-Semitic propaganda in 2021.
A group of people protest in front of the Tampa Convention Center. NBC News affiliate in Tampa
Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried called on Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday to denounce "neo-Nazis."
"I'm asking you, Ron DeSantis, to call out the Nazis who were here, here to hold your speech inside this Convention Center," Fried, who is Jewish, said Sunday.
"They were holding his photos yesterday."
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Charlie Crist, a representative to the House from Florida and also a Democratic candidate for governor, also expressed his rejection.
"The reprehensible anti-Semitic hate and neo-Nazi demonstrations on display this weekend have no place anywhere in our state. In the past year, Florida has seen an increase in anti-Semitic hate," he said in a statement.
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Turning Point USA emphasized that some of its members confronted this group.
"Our event or our students. After some students initially confronted these individuals, they made a mature decision and vacated the space. Once that happened, they left," they said in a statement.
The neo-Nazi group clashed Saturday night with other people demonstrating against the removal of constitutional protection of the right to abortion.
The Tampa Jewish Federation and Community Centers warned their members not to confront these individuals and that they had already tipped off local authorities and the FBI.
"They have committed to additional patrols of Tampa's Jewish institutions," the organization told the NBC affiliate in Tampa.