WILLIAMSBURG — A man driving a motorcycle through the heart of Williamsburg’s Orthodox Jewish community tossed multiple fliers filled with swastikas and anti-Semitic drawings on the street, the NYPD said.
The biker, who was wearing a black helmet at the time, was spotted dropping the fliers as he drove near the intersection of Lee Avenue and Rodney Street on Thursday around 9:30 p.m., police said.
It featured cartoons with multiple anti-Semitic statements, as well a reference to the “Holocaust myth,” according to an image circulating among members of the Orthodox community Friday morning and later posted on Twitter, alongside a request to call Williamsburg’s Shomrim Security Patrol with any information.
An NYPD spokeswoman confirmed the flier posted online was same one they were investigating.
A person who answered the Shomrim’s emergency line declined to comment.
“It’s bad. This is the middle of Williamsburg, this is the heart of the community,” said Moses Bondo, 55, owner of Lee Rodney Food Center at the corner of Lee Avenue and Rodney Street, who witnessed the commotion Thursday night when police arrived at the scene.
“It shows a lot of hate,” he said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force was investigating the incident.
A man littered the streets of the hassidic Jewish community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn with anti-Semitic flyers as he drove his motorcycle through the streets during the Pesach holiday, the DNAInfo news site reported.
According to the NYPD, the motorcyclist tossed flyers with swastikas and other anti-Semitic drawings.
The biker, who was wearing a black helmet, was seen throwing the flyers as he drove near the intersection of Lee Avenue and Rodney Street on Thursday around 9:30 PM, police said.
The flyers featured multiple anti-Semitic statements and referred to the Holocaust as a “myth.”
Moses Bondo, 55, the owner of a nearby food store who witnessed the incident, said: “It’s bad. This is the middle of Williamsburg, this is the heart of the [hassidic] community.”
“It shows a lot of hate,” he added.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is reportedly investigating the incident.
A motorbike rider literally delivered a message of hate around Orthodox Williamsburg when he handed out flyers featuring swastikas and anti-Semitic cartoons from the back of his hog — dampening locals’ spirits in the middle of Passover.
“It’s painful to see that during Passover. It’s always painful,” said Williamsburg native Moses Moskowitz, 25, who didn’t see the incident firsthand. “It brings back memories from my parents and grandparents who saw those things during WWII.”
As many as 100 people were gathered at the intersection of Lee Avenue and Rodney Street on Thursday at around 9:30 pm when the bigoted biker wearing a black helmet roared up and started passing out the hateful propaganda, according to police and witnesses.
The flyers featured the Nazi symbol alongside racist cartoons and captions describing Jews as “born nation-wreckers” who are perpetuating the “Holocaust myth.”
“Qvickly! Qvickly! Ve must keep ze lid on! Ze truth is gedding out!” one man wearing a Star of David is shown saying.
Onlookers were shocked by what they saw, according to Moses Bondo, 55, who manages the nearby Lee Rodney Food Center and witnessed the aftermath.
“With grim faces, they were asking, ‘Why people would do that? Why people would spend the holiday to spread hate?’” he said.
But members of the community have put the hateful act behind them and returned to their Passover celebrations, he added.
“It’s an incident that went by fast and it’s quiet. Now everyone resumes to their holiday to enjoy it,” he said.
Police are still investigating the incident, and have notified the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force.