Neo-Nazi protesters disrupt reading at Red Ink Community Library

On Feb. 21, a group of 15-20 people carrying a Nazi flag shouted and pounded the windows outside the Red Ink Community Library on Camp Street near Cypress in Providence. Inside, a group was listening to a reading of “The Communist Manifesto.” It was the 174^thanniversary of the book’s publication.

Police responded to the incident. Video posted to Twitter showed the masked protestors chanting and hitting the window with their hands.

The protesters were reportedly members of the Neo-Nazi group NSC-131, the Nationalist Socialist Club. According the Anti-Defamation League website: “NSC members see themselves as soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the white race.

“NSC espouses racism, antisemitism and intolerance via the Internet, propaganda distributions and the use of graffiti,” according to the website. The group appears to be concentrated in New England.

A Stop The Hate rally was held at Billy Taylor Park on Feb. 24 in support of the community library and its Mount Hope neighborhood. About 100 people listened to a short speaking program representing a diverse group.

All echoed the words of Adam Greenman, president and CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island: “We stand in partnership and in solidarity with you. People tried to make us all afraid. …We stand united against hate, and we are proud to stand with you against this hate… Neo-Nazis are not welcome here in Rhode Island. And we shall not be afraid.”