MIDDLEBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - Police in Middleborough and West Bridgewater launched an investigation after finding a number of stickers promoting a white nationalist group posted in public places.
An officer responding to a report of a hateful poster hanging in the area of Four Corners in Middleborough on Nov. 4 found a small sticker on a traffic light post, which promoted a white nationalist group that has been identified by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, Middleborough Police Chief Joseph Perkins and West Bridgewater Police Chief Victor Flaherty announced in a joint statement.
The officer scraped the sticker off the post.
Though they look harmless, many of the stickers are designed for people to walk up, hold their phone over it, scan the bar code and then it takes them to the Patriot Front website.
Their message is not harmless at all according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“Sometimes their signs are designed to look innocuous and it is really important for people to know that there is deep hatred behind their marketing,” Robert Trestan of the ADL New England said. “They regularly pride themselves on disseminating racism, antisemitism, and various forms of hate.”
In West Bridgewater, the police department was reportedly made aware last week of two stickers posted in the town. Officers responded to the location of the stickers and scraped them off.
“Both the Middleborough and West Bridgewater Police Departments do not tolerate the spreading of hateful messages in their respective communities,” Perkins and Flaherty said. “The stickers being placed on public property are considered acts of vandalism and any other stickers on public property promoting the group will also be taken down.”
Families in both areas say they are concerned and are calling for compassion instead.
“Terrible. We have enough hate around here as it is,” resident Karen Danehy said. “It’s a time of thanksgiving we are coming upon. Instead of being hateful and fueling that fire they need to be more uplifting and loving and generous.”
Anyone who sees any additional stickers is asked to call their local police departments to have them taken down.
Placing a sticker on public property is an act of vandalism.
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