Flyers promoting white supremacist groups found in two Norwich neighborhoods
Jul. 19—NORWICH — Flyers promoting two different white supremacist groups have been found recently in two neighborhoods in Norwich prompting a police investigation into one of the postings.
Members of the City Council received a complaint from a resident on Hamilton Avenue on July 7 that a flier promoting the group Patriot Front was posted on a utility pole in the neighborhood. A week later, police received a report of a flier advertising the New England Nationalist Social Club, also known as NSC 131, on Thames Terrace on the west bank of the Thames River. The Day received an email about the NSC poster as well.
Both groups are labeled by the Anti-Defamation League as white supremacist groups, the NSC-131 group described as a neo-Nazi group with small chapters based in New England. In an article on its website, the Anti-Defamation League said the group was founded in December 2019 under the original name, New England Nationalists Club.
"NSC-131 members see themselves as soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the white race," the Anti-Defamation League stated.
Alderwoman Stacy Gould said when she learned about the Patriot Front flyer on Hamilton Avenue, she put a step stool in her car, brought a long pole with a brush attached to remove the flier. She said it was placed high on the utility pole so people could not remove it easily.
Similar Patriot Front fliers appeared at the same time along Route 12 in Ledyard and Preston.
"I now keep my eyes peeled for signs up high on the poles," Gould said. "I'm not going to stand for that in our community. It's really upsetting."
Police received a report of the sign on Thames Terrace on July 15. Police Sgt. Christopher Hawrylik said in response, police forwarded the information to the Norwich department's Connecticut Intelligence Center representative, as well as the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force officer assigned to Norwich.
"We were advised flyers like this have been popping up all over New England," Hawrylik wrote in an email to The Day. "As of this moment we have no leads as to who specifically dispersed the flyers within Norwich."
A photo sent to The Day of the flyer posted on Thames Terrace shows a historic illustration of a Revolutionary War Minuteman centered at the top, flanked by "131" and pine trees on each side. Beneath in large capital letters is: "New Englanders! You are being replaced. Organize and resist!! The group's website address is at the bottom.
On the side is a description of the group's plan to set up networks of "like-minded" men and women to oppose criminal "anti-American & anti-white street gangs," listing MS13, Black Lives Matter and Antifa as examples.
"Above all, we stand for the security and prosperity of white New Englanders," the flier stated. "Our motivations to carry out this mission do not come from a place of hatred. but a love for our own people. No one else will protect us."
