A small group of self-described Nazis attacked pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang as a “Jew” during his anti-Muslim march near Chicago, with at least one member repeatedly shouting “Heil Hitler.”
The confrontation took place Sunday outside Palestine Fest in Bridgeview, Illinois, according to a video thread independent journalist Ford Fischer of News2Share posted Monday.
Police held back a large crowd of counter-protesters as Lang rallied, while a small Nazi group also protested him, Fischer reported.
The Nazi group was led by Trevor Raein and Greg Conte, Fischer reported. Its members, dressed in white shirts, held a long banner reading “JAKE LANG IS A JEW,” as shown in Fischer’s footage and in a photo Raein posted on X.
“We were the Nazis there. We’re not tolerating Jake Lang’s Zionist ops for more wars for Jews,” Raein wrote alongside the photo.
In a post during Sunday’s event, Raein described himself and Conte as “National Socialists,” the full term behind the word “Nazi.” In another post, he wrote that the group “crashed Jake Lang’s Zionist op AGAIN.”
“Free Palestine. Heil Hitler,” one member of the group said in a video posted Sunday by the Chicago-area X account Goofies of Chicago.
“You just said Heil Hitler,” a counter-protester told him moments later.
“Yeah, no doubt about that,” the man replied.
Most of the other counter-protesters “seemed to reject” the Nazi group, Fischer reported, even though its members skipped “the swastika armbands they typically bring for these demonstrations.”
Before Sunday, Lang promoted the march with a poster reading “Crusader March on Little Palestine,” a reference to Bridgeview’s nickname, according to CBS News Chicago. The poster also read “Stop the Islamification of Chicago.” In a video, Lang called Bridgeview an “Islamic military base,” the outlet reported.
“There is no place for the bigotry and hate-filled rhetoric espoused by Mr. Lang in our community,” Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek (D-IL) said in a statement to CBS before the festival.
“Bow down before your king!” Lang proclaimed at Sunday’s rally as some of his supporters wore red armbands with crosses, according to Fischer.
Lang was pardoned by President Donald Trump for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, CBS reported. Hate-watch groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, have called him a “white supremacist,” the outlet added.
Lang has also been charged in Texas with making a terroristic threat after court documents alleged he said on a livestream that he would kill Karmelo Anthony, a teen convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, according to NewsNation. He separately faces a felony vandalism charge in St. Paul, Minnesota, FOX 9 reported.
“Nazi go home!” the main crowd of anti-Lang counter-protesters chanted in unison at Lang’s group on Sunday, in a video posted by videojournalist Brendan Gutenschwager.
Some counter-protesters also threw water bottles and other items at Lang’s group, and one object appeared to explode, Fischer reported.
“They’re throwing bombs!” one of Lang’s supporters shouted, according to Fischer.
Police escorted Lang and his caravan of “crusaders” away from the event as the throwing continued, Fischer reported. Officers also pepper-sprayed the crowd as one vehicle was still pulling away, hitting News2Share contributor Matthew Rodier, he wrote.
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