In accordance with experts specializing in hate groups, far-right demonstrators who were seen waving Nazi flags outside Walt Disney World in Orlando last week have been identified as an area organization generally known as the Order of the Black Sun.
Ben Popp, an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League, said the Orlando Sentinel that the group known by the initials “OBS” is “a small white supremacist network based within the state of Florida.”
“They formed earlier this yr, from individuals who had been involved with other white supremacist groups and organizations within the state of Florida for the previous couple of years,” Popp said.
“So these individuals are well-known to us.”
Popp told the Sentinel that OBS and other extremist organizations “work together within the state of Florida to make themselves appear greater than they are surely, to intimidate communities, but in addition to normalize their anti-Semitism and other types of hatred.” “.
“You already know, they need things like this to be a standard occurrence. So that individuals form of get used to it and turn into numb to it. “
“It’s really their goal to desensitize the community to their hatred,” Popp told the Sentinel.
Anna Eskamani, a state legislator who represents Orlando within the Florida House of Representatives, posted short clips on her Twitter account Saturday showing several people waving flags bearing the famous swastika in addition to other fascist symbols and homophobic signs outside the famous amusement park.
Eskamani’s photos featured a banner promoting the presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“It’s absolutely disgusting to see what has turn into a widespread Nazi presence in Florida, and much more disturbing to see them holding up signs and flags signaling support for people like Governor DeSantis,” Eskamani said in an announcement.
“One and all, no matter political ideology, should condemn it.”
The post asked for comment from Disney and DeSantis.
Abigail Disney, granddaughter of the late Roy Disney Sr., who co-founded The Walt Disney Company along with his younger brother Walt, reacted to the photos by tweeting over the weekend that her grandfather was “turning in his grave.”
In total, about 15 people protested outside the amusement park for about two hours, outside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told U.S. Today, adding that no arrests have been made.
“We’re aware of the existence of those groups whose purpose is to agitate and incite individuals with anti-Semitic symbols and insults. Also they are aware of the law,” the sheriff’s office said in an announcement.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Office condemns hate speech in any form, but people have the suitable to show under the First Amendment.”
Disney found itself at the middle of a political storm that pitted the entertainment giant against a Florida governor who recently announced his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination.
The corporate sued DeSantis after his administration stripped Mouse House of semi-autonomous control of a purpose-built tax district that oversees zoning on land where amusement parks have been built.
Disney alleged that DeSantis violated the corporate’s First Amendment freedom of expression rights after it went against the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” Act, which bans sex education and gender identity for youngsters before fourth grade.
Walt Disney World in Orlando is a top destination for LGBTQ people during Pride Month.