SAUGUS, Mass. — Police in a pair of North Shore communities, as well as the Anti-Defamation League of New England, have condemned the anti-Semitic behavior of a group of extremists who hung racist banners from highway overpasses on the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Several men who had their faces covered with masks displayed a banner with a hateful and false message on an overpass that runs over Route 1 in Saugus on Saturday evening, according to the Saugus Police Department.
The message of the banner read, “JEWS DID 9/11,” according to a photo shared with Boston 25.
Investigators later determined that the men were not breaking laws despite the hateful subject of their message.
About an hour later, ten masked individuals gathered on the Rail Trail bridge over Route 114 in Danvers and unfurled a large banner displaying a “false, destructive, and divisive anti-Semitic message linked to 9/11,” according to the Danvers Police Department.
Danvers police noted that the individuals appeared to belong to the same hate group that has been displaying propaganda in other nearby communities.
Both police departments denounced the discriminatory acts. Robert Trestan, the regional director of ADL New England, called the group cowards.
“On September 11, a day when we remember a great tragedy experienced by our country and the loss of too many, a number of highway overpasses in our Commonwealth were tarnished with anti-Semitic banners, held by cowardly masked extremists, blaming these terrorist attacks on Jews,” Trestan said. “The scapegoating of the Jewish community is an age-old but exceedingly harmful anti-Semitic trope that must be called out and condemned whenever and wherever it occurs. Using this tragedy to spread false, destructive and divisive narratives harms our communities and sense of security and disgraces the memory of the victims from that day. Join us in condemning these activities and in recommitting ourselves to upholding our community values of justice.”
Both incidents remain under investigation.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW