A group of Michigan men protested a theatrical performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank” by waving Nazi and Confederate flags and yelling antisemitic slurs.
As reported by WXYZ, the men spoke out against the play on Saturday at the American Legion Post 141 in Livingston County….
Alex Sutfill called the police after seeing the group while driving downtown with his wife.
“There was a group of people at the four-way intersection in downtown that had swastika flags and American flags,” he said. “They were sticking their arms up and yelling ‘hail Hitler’ and ‘hail Trump’ and everything like that.”
“Everyone was shocked. “They were shocked,” Bobby Brite, a former commander of the post, told WXYZ. He said that he and 75 other people who came to see the play were scared to run into the crowd on the way to their cars. “Everything you would expect.”
Brite went on, “No one in America should feel that way.”
The Fowlerville Community Theatre put out a statement about the play they put on, pointing out that the mob was like the harsh realities of World War II.
“As a theater, we tell stories.” We tell stories that take people to different times and places, some of which are real and some of which are made up.
The play is based on real people who died in the Holocaust, and the theater wrote, “We have tried to tell their story with as much realism as possible.”
“On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected; The presence of protestors outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding,” they said.
The protesters finally left the parking lot where they were pickingeting after being told to by police, according to The Detroit News.
A statement from the sheriff’s office said, “The protesters then crossed the street and waved flags with Nazi symbols on them.” “The subject then came up to them, and a fight broke out.” There was no physical contact, and in the end, the two people broke up.
The play went on “without further incident,” according to the sheriff’s office. It was performed again on Sunday night.
