TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Holocaust heart in Florida and others condemned the presence of protesters holding Nazi flags and posters with antisemitic imagery outside a convention of younger conservative activists that drew as audio system President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a number of other Republican U.S. senators.
Florida Holocaust Museum chairman Mike Igel stated that the demonstration represented “a direct threat” to the Jewish group in the realm. The museum relies in St. Petersburg, throughout the bay from the Tampa Convention Center, the place the protesters confirmed up Saturday outside the place the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit convention was being held.
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Founded by conservative Charlie Kirk in 2012, Turning Point is a Trump-aligned group that organizes younger folks on faculty campuses into conservative activism. The convention attracted 5,000 younger conservatives.
“Carrying the Nazi flag, or that of the SS, the unit responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Holocaust, is an indefensible act of pure hatred,” Igel stated in an announcement. “This isn’t about politics or religion. It’s about humanity.”
Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet stated Sunday that the Nazi protesters had no affiliation with the convention and that his group condemned their ideologies.
RELATED: Nazi flags and different racist imagery displayed outside Tampa Convention Center Saturday
“Since these individuals were located on public property, our security attempted to, but was not permitted to remove them,” Kolvet stated in an e mail. “We have no idea who they are or why they were here. They have nothing to do with TPUSA, our event, or our students. Our students, after initially confronting them, ultimately took the mature route and vacated the space. Once that happened, these individuals left.”
Besides Trump and DeSantis, different scheduled audio system on the Turning Point convention included Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Fox News TV persona Laura Ingraham.
The protesters with Nazi flags clashed briefly with protesters who had marched to the convention heart from a close-by park, demonstrating towards the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida politicians throughout the political spectrum, from Republican U.S. Rick Scott to Democratic gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, condemned the Nazi protesters on Sunday.