University of Minnesota police investigate flier with two swastikas posted on campus

The flier, on a pole, brought attention to a neo-Nazi website.

February 18, 2017 at 5:15AM
MINNEAPOLIS/USA - July 23: Entrance to the campus of the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota is a university in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN and the 6th largest univerity in the USA. July 23, 2012. ORG XMIT: MIN1505261330310624 ORG XMIT: MIN1510071124370054 ORG XMIT: MIN1601201325070229
An entrance to the the University of Minnesota, from 2012. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

University of Minnesota police are investigating the latest of several recent incidents involving anti-Semitic postings on the Minneapolis campus.

Social media on Friday captured the image of a flier taped to a pole inviting people to the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer.

The flier, marked with two swastikas, reads: "White man are you sick and tired of the Jews destroying your country through mass immigration and degeneration ... join us in the struggle for global white supremacy at the Daily Stormer."

University officials said Friday that police are aware of the incident and are investigating.

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC), issued a statement Friday evening "condemning the hateful and anti-Semitic fliers posted around the University of Minnesota."

"The fliers reference anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and call for people to join white-supremacist movements. ... We call on all people of goodwill to recoil at these ideologies and tactics," the statement said. "We will remain vigilant in taking a stand against those who admire the atrocities of Nazism."

On Thursday, University of Minnesota police arrested a student for allegedly vandalizing a public area of a residence hall with anti-Semitic graffiti.

The 18-year-old student from St. Cloud faces a charge of criminal damage to property, according to a police report, and university officials called the case a bias crime. The student allegedly drew a swastika on a desk in a public part of the 17th Avenue Residence Hall, where he lives.

The incident, reported to police on Feb. 7, is one of at least seven cases of anti-Semitic graffiti or propaganda reported to the university's Bias Response and Referral Network since the beginning of December.

Last week, another student found a swastika and a picture of a concentration camp drawn on a white board inside his dorm room in Minneapolis.

"The University of Minnesota condemns all acts of hate on our campus," a news release noted.

The JCRC recalled a similar incident in March 2016 where university printers and fax machinesallegedly printed "anti-Semitic and racist fliers similar in content to what was posted today."

"We urge anyone with information about the posting of the fliers to come forward," the JCRC statement said. "We have every confidence that law enforcement will investigate this incident thoroughly."

Staff writer Haley Hansen contributed to this report. Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647

Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora

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