White Nationalists Protest Public Health Measures in California with Antisemitic Signs and Banners

The same day that neo-Nazis and Republican legislators came together to protest stay-at-home orders in Washington State, white nationalist groups that traffic in antisemitic conspiracies rallied in Huntington Beach, California, to protest similar public health restrictions. Rally attendees included the Three Percenters, a far-right extremist group, and supporters of QAnon, a vast and growing network of conspiracy theorists who hold antisemitic and pro-Trump beliefs.

Signs and banners comparing Governor Gavin Newsom to Hitler, and likening stay-at-home orders and progressive policies to the Holocaust, dominated the scene, as well as racist and homophobic signs. Antisemitic messaging that trivialized the mass murder of six million Jews have become a staple of anti-lockdown protests.

A massive banner depicting Governor Gavin Newsom as Hitler, posing in front of a giant swastika, at an anti-lockdown protest in Huntington Beach, California.

This was not the first anti-lockdown protest in Huntington Beach. After Republican Mayor Lyn Semeta led the city council in announcing a legal challenge to Gov. Newsom’s order to close the beaches, 2500 people gathered to protest the Governor’s order. This action came just one week after that.

An anti-lockdown protestor in Huntington Beach, CA, holds a sign comparing the Nazis’ destruction of synagogues during the Holocaust to the temporary closure of churches to protect public health. The sign also compares the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust to abortions.

An anti-lockdown protestor in Huntington Beach, California, holds a sign depicting Governor Gavin Newsom with a Hitler mustache. The protestor’s Hawaiian shirt is likely a reference to the “Big Luau,” which is an expression for “boogaloo,” or future civil war between the American government and its people.