White Supremacist Group Hangs Banner In Uptown Park, Reports Say

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — A white supremacist group held an anti-immigration demonstration in Inwood's Fort Tryon Park over the weekend and community officials are organizing against the hateful display, reports and officials said.

The group Identity Evropa hung a massive banner reading "end the invasion, stop immigration" from the parks' Billings Arcade archway in the southern end of the park, neighborhood blog The Uptown Collective first reported. The banner was dropped after the group held a "build the wall" protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Midtown earlier in the day, according to the report.

Update: The Washington Heights and Inwood community denounced the display Tuesday night at a unity rally.

The group posted photos of the demonstration to its social media pages.

Local officials spokeout against the display.

"One year after their vile march in Charlottesville, white supremacist group Identity Evropa has come to Washington Heights," City Councilman Mark Levine said on Twitter. "But they messed with the wrong community."

Identity Evropa has been designated a white supremacist group by both the Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group popularized the slogan "you will not replace us" during the deadly August 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the ADL. The group was founded in 2016 and has been "at the forefront of the racist 'alt-right's' effort to recruit white, college-aged men and transform them into the fashionable new face of white nationalism," according to the SPLC.

Lead photo by Google Maps street view