White supremacist fliers found at North Carolina town’s Christmas parade

Canton town leaders said their Christmas parade last week was a huge success. But they also said there was an unwelcome presence. A group called Identity …

Canton town leaders said their Christmas parade last week was a huge success. But they also said there was an unwelcome presence. A group called Identity Europa placed fliers along the parade route. (Credit: WLOS staff)

by: FOX8 Digital Desk

Posted: Dec 12, 2017 / 08:50 AM EST

Updated: Dec 12, 2017 / 08:50 AM EST

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

CANTON, N.C. — Officials in a small North Carolina town say they found fliers for a white supremacist group at their Christmas parade last week, WLOS reports.

The group, called Identity Europa, placed fliers along the parade route in Canton.

The Southern Poverty Law Center identified the organization as a white nationalist group. Most of the posters have been removed, but at least one was still up Monday.

“That’s absolutely not what God would want us to do. And especially during the Christmas season, you don’t even like to think about something like that,” said resident Tom Pope.

Canton mayor Zeb Smathers said the fliers were placed during the Christmas celebration to “try and recruit people to their hate group.”

Identity Europa has not responded to WLOS’ request for comment.