Man Unfurls Nazi Flag At Bernie Sanders Rally

Sara Boboltz
·2 min read
Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at a campaign rally on March 5, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. There were several disruptions during the rally, including a white nationalist brandishing a Nazi flag. (Photo: Caitlin O'Hara via Getty Images)
Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at a campaign rally on March 5, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. There were several disruptions during the rally, including a white nationalist brandishing a Nazi flag. (Photo: Caitlin O'Hara via Getty Images)

A man high in the stands behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during his Thursday night campaign rally in Phoenix surprised the crowd by unfurling a large red flag emblazoned with a swastika.

Sanders was alerted to the flag when the cheers at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum turned to boos shortly after he began speaking.

He turned around after a supporter had grabbed the flag from below and yanked it from the man, who was then escorted out.

“Whoever it was, I think they’re a little outnumbered tonight,” Sanders told the crowd.

While rally disruptions are not uncommon ― a group of vegan protesters memorably rushed the stage at a Joe Biden rally earlier this week ― attendees seemed particularly taken aback by the swastika.

“I was expecting Trump supporters to be protesting. I didn’t expect a swastika flag to be unfurled,” rally attendee Orlando Garrido told The Washington Post. “I never thought I would actually see something like that.”

Others on social media pointed out that Sanders, a Jewish man, had family who were murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust, making the swastika flag’s sudden appearance particularly repugnant.

Video of a man being escorted out of the stadium while using a racial slur also emerged on social media describing him as the same man with the flag.

A spokesman for the Sanders campaign told a BuzzFeed News reporter that the senator “is aware of the flag with the swastika on it and is disturbed by it.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.