Hate group members charged for racist signs in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH — The leader of a neo-Nazi group has been charged with violating the state’s Civil Rights Act after an incident last summer, when a racist banner reading "Keep New England White" was hung over Route 1.

Christopher Hood, the founder and head of the hate group Nationalist Social Club, known as NSC-131, has been charged, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. Also charged was Leo Collinan, another group member hailing from Manchester. A complaint has been filed against the group itself for violating the act as well. Formella said the two men were charged due trespassing on city property with their unauthorized, racially motivated message

The attorney general stated that on July 30, 2022, Portsmouth police received reports of people hanging racist signs from an overpass on Stark Street, which overlooks Route 1.

Police found about 10 men on the overpass wearing hats, sunglasses and face coverings emblazoned with “NSC-131." Hood and Collinan have been identified, and the state continues to investigate the incident to identify the other individuals on the bridge, Formella said.

Formella announced the civil charges Tuesday at Portsmouth City Hall in a joint press conference with the Portsmouth Police Department. The complaints were filed in Rockingham County Superior Court on Tuesday, he said.

“It's critical to ensuring that New Hampshire remains a place where people of all backgrounds feel that New Hampshire is a place where they can build the life they want to build for their families, and build the life that they want to build for their children and future generations,” Formella said.

Each violation of the Civil Rights Act allows for a maximum civil penalty of $5,000, according to Formella. The complaint seeks $10,000 in fines against Hood and a $5,000 fine against Collinan.

Formella told the gathering, including numerous municipal leaders and city department heads, that several incidents the Nationalist Social Club has been behind throughout the state are under review by the state.

“The complaint also asked the court to enjoin the defendants from committing future violations of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act from engaging in other unlawful activities,” Formella said.

Prior to the incident in Portsmouth last summer, members of NSC-131 stood outside the Kittery Trading Post on Route 1 in Maine with a sign stating the same message promoting white supremacy.

The Anti-Defamation League says the group “espouses racism, antisemitism and intolerance” online, and through graffiti and other propaganda. Its members "see themselves as soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the white race.”

The neo-Nazi group formed in eastern Massachusetts in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Portsmouth police chief praises response by community, officers

Portsmouth Police Chief Mark Newport said the city has earned the reputation as a “safe, inclusive” community that welcomes all who wish to visit, study and live.

Newport added he is proud of community members who witnessed the sign and reported it to police and of the officers for their response.

“I’d like to take a moment to say that hate, intimidation and divisiveness are simply not part of the fabric of this great city of Portsmouth. They are just not our values,” he said. “The civil rights actions being taken today are all about sending a very clear message: This hate is not welcome here or anywhere in the state of New Hampshire.”

Adding praise for law enforcement at the news conference were city Mayor Deaglan McEachern and Stefany Shaheen, chairperson of the Portsmouth Police Commission. She noted the significance of the complaint being filed the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“Let the actions taken today, and the strong show of force in this city and with the attorney general's office, send a clear reminder to anyone in New Hampshire who threatens the civil rights of another person in this community, in our community: Your actions will not be tolerated. Hate has no place here,” Shaheen said.

Attorney general says investigation is ongoing

The civil actions will not result in jail time for either Hood or Collinan, Formella said. If injunctions imposed against the men or against the group and the restrictions are violated in the future, criminal penalties could potentially be handed down.

The group, he added, dispersed “without any real confrontation” after speaking with police for a few minutes the night of the incident.

The Department of Justice has “leads” on the identities of the other men on the bridge that evening, though they have yet to be identified, according to Formella.

In the near term, Formella said, his office will look to get a temporary restraining order against the group.

Signs were not only neo-Nazi activity in the Seacoast

In July 2022, residents told Seacoastonline they were shocked to find flyers purported to be from a neo-Nazi group on their lawns. They were recruitment messages, and two residents who identified themselves as Jewish raised concern the intended purpose may have been targeted anti-Semitic intimidation tactics.

The Seacoast Repertory Theatre of Portsmouth was targeted in person by the same group over its drag queen story hour in late 2021. The theater received a surge of donations and a rally of community support pushing back against the hate group was held in January 2022.

In July 2022, a rally was held in Kittery in response to similar neo-Nazi recruitment activity by the same group in the Maine town and other communities around the Seacoast in response to the racist sign in Kittery. Town leaders also responded in multiple communities.

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The group was reported to be active around New England last year with incidents reported in Boston by regional media outlets and activity in Rhode Island reported by the Providence Journal.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH hate group activity: Racist sign leads to charges.