WINTHROP – Town Manager Anthony Marino, Council President James Letterie and Police Chief Terence M. Delehanty report that the Town of Winthrop and the Winthrop Police Department are investigating after a Zoom-based participant in Tuesday’s Town Council meeting shouted an antisemitic slur, displayed a swastika on their screen and appeared to give a nazi salute during a discussion regarding the town’s flag flying policy.
“During a civic discussion on the flying of flags on town property, an individual seized the meeting to use it as a platform for hate speech and to display symbols of hate, intimidation and nazism,” said Town Council President Letterie. “We condemn this act and all acts of hatred in or around our community, and we will always call out and condemn hatred in all its forms. There is no place for it here in Winthrop.”
The Town of Winthrop is actively reviewing its public meeting videoconferencing procedures and policies.
Added Town Manager Marino: “Winthrop has shown its true nature in the recent past when we banded together as a community of support and caring in the aftermath of a racially-motivated double murder in 2021. We came together then and we will always come together in unity to condemn hatred and intolerance and to fight fear and intimidation.”
The hateful outburst, in which the individual used an ethnic slur described by the American Jewish Committee as being primarily used today by white supremacists to denigrate Jewish people, is now the subject of an active police investigation. The Winthrop Police Department is also reaching out to its state and federal law enforcement partners to bring their considerable resources to bear on the investigation.
“The Winthrop Police Department is actively investigating this incident as a hate crime,” Chief Delehanty said. “We will respond aggressively to this attack on our community. There is no place for hate in Winthrop. Not in person; not online; not anywhere.”
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