Members of the Detroit Police Department are being criticized for accompanying a group of self-described Nazis over the weekend at the city's Pride parade.
Activists reacted in alarm on Saturday after being informed that the Nazi group had been given a permit to protest at the Pride event. According to The Detroit News, police were assigned "to keep the protesters and attendees apart as they marched through the festival."
"Our police, when they should be protecting us, are protecting Nazis," one protester could be heard complaining in a video on Twitter.
After videos of the Nazi march circulated on social media, activists criticized the police for not taking a stand. Others pointed out that the officers were only following orders.
Watch the videos and read some of the comments below.
Where was Detroit Police when armed Nazis were marching with their NAZI FLAG shouting Homophobic slurs, anti-black… https://t.co/jqoyzBwUlB— StanceGrounded (@StanceGrounded)1560094945.0
Today at Motor City Pride, a friendly LGBT+ event, Detroit PD escorted Nazi's in full uniform outside of the entran… https://t.co/EnD4pT4T1M— marc 🦉📷 (@marc 🦉📷)1560052682.0
The Detroit community has known for weeks that this might happen, and almost every queer I know was prepared to fig… https://t.co/wGwmfu7Ptb— Mari Brighe, MA, MLS(ASCP) (@Mari Brighe, MA, MLS(ASCP))1560100526.0
@JudiTarowsky I have a report from a friend at the parade that at least some of those police escorted the Nazis to… https://t.co/F9OEvSXvwT— M. Belanger (@M. Belanger)1560098793.0
This is why cops have no place at Pride. Cops literally wear rainbow pins while providing state protection to prot… https://t.co/AfrYUnfOZX— Aditya Mukerjee, the Otterrific 🦦 🏳️🌈 (@Aditya Mukerjee, the Otterrific 🦦 🏳️🌈)1560097108.0
Appalling that Detroit PD ALLOW Nazis, period, let alone at Pride. America, get your shit together- we just marked… https://t.co/VY70J57atL— Stephanie Belding (@Stephanie Belding)1560095717.0
It’s 2019 and cops are escorting Nazis through a pride celebration. Disgusting https://t.co/M3oK4ZQj5O— Lildrummaboi (@Lildrummaboi)1560094341.0
@LauraMingles @gwensnyderPHL @evan_carp See I'm having an even harder time with this when I just saw a video of pol… https://t.co/wnMjBtldEX— All I Want for Christmas is Antifa Trash Panda (@All I Want for Christmas is Antifa Trash Panda)1560029043.0
