Several white supremacists attacked twin brothers outside of a New York City punk bar this weekend over an “anti-fascist” sticker, the New York Post reported. The incident occurred Sunday at the Clockwork Bar on Essex Street on the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan.
The attack was sparked when a group of white supremacists spotted an “anti-fascist” sticker on the phone of one of the brothers, police said. The 27-year-old brothers both are graduate students at Columbia University in New York.
“One of the guys … sees [my brother’s] phone, grabs it and starts screaming, ‘I know what the fuck that means, I know what the fuck that sticker is, you need to get the fuck out of here,'” one of the victims told the New York Post. The victim asked the paper to remain anonymous.
“He throws the phone on the ground, and they just start jumping us right in front of the bar,” he added.
The victim described a gruesome attack during which one of the six or seven attackers pulled a knife while others used brass knuckles. The men — reportedly spotted wearing patches signaling they were in the 211 Crew linked to white supremacy — mostly ran off after punching and kicking the brothers. Undercover police officers near the scene arrested a 29-year-old suspect named John Young, who lingered near the bar, according to the Post.
Far-right groups, including white nationalists and neo-Nazis, openly celebrated Donald Trump winning November’s presidential election. White supremacists groups have since described a surge in interest amid high-profile rallies and violent skirmishes. Prior to the attack at the Clockwork bar, New York City had already seen numerous instances of swastika graffiti and neo-Nazis disrupting an anti-Trump art installation from actor Shia Labeouf.
“We’re saddened by the attacks on those victims and we hope that they’re O.K.,” Clockwork owner Frank Scotto told DNA Info New York. “And furthermore, we don’t endorse any neo-Nazi, white supremacist, skinheads, or 211 or anything like that — we don’t hold events, we don’t invite them, we don’t want them here.”
New York City-focused site Gothamist reported that the 211 Crew, also known as the 211 Bootboys, are a NYC/Washington, D.C.-based skinhead group that embraces a punk scene that emphasizes “ultra nationalism and Islamophobia” while not explicitly preaching Nazi or white supremacist ideology. The skinheads do, however, often associate with outright neo-Nazis, according to Gothamist.
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