Bloomfield: No place for bigoted ‘European heritage’ group here

BLOOMFIELD — The group that announced a white supremacist rally in Princeton and then cancelled it has surfaced in Essex County.

Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia and Director of Public Safety Samuel DeMaio denounced fliers promoting the New Jersey European Heritage Association that were posted in downtown Bloomfield in a statement obtained by the Patch of Bloomfield.

The group claimed to have "punk'd" the media and organizations that made plans to hold a counter-protest in Palmer Square January. It denied there was ever an application filed for its own event, and called the event a "hoax."

Venezia and DeMaio said police in Bloomfield are investigating the origin of the flier and who put them up.

"In the year 2019, we understand the term 'European heritage' to be a euphemism for White nationalism, bigotry, and intolerance of everyone else," Venezia and DeMaio said.

The associations website opens with a message stating that "our European race is in a struggle for survival, don't sit idly by as we fight for existence." It also includes several posters that can be printed out and distributed.

"We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children," the group wrote as its creed.

Venezia and DeMaio did not immediately return messages.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly described Bloomfield as in Bergen County.

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