Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced signs and banners posted early on Sunday at several locations in the city, which seemingly came from the far-right group Proud Boys.
The signs were posted at the Queens Midtown, Lincoln, Holland and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels, and on the Manhattan Bridge, according to Cuomo’s office. They have been since removed, and an investigation is ongoing to find the culprit.
The signs included the Proud Boys name and such messages as “No retreat!” and “No surrender.” One banner compared Cuomo to Fredo from “The Godfather” trilogy, a comparison now seen by someone as an anti-Italian trope.
“Early this morning, posters and banners apparently created by the neo-fascist group Proud Boys were found at various tunnels across New York City,” Cuomo said. “The banners, which included extremist right-wing propaganda slogans like ‘no retreat’ and ‘no surrender’ as well as anti-Italian American stereotypes, were clearly meant to divide and instill fear in New Yorkers.
“New York is not intimidated or threatened by these neo-fascists,” Cuomo added.
Two members of the men-only Proud Boys group were sentenced last month to four years each in prison, after a fight with protesters last year outside a Republican club in Manhattan.
Cuomo denounced the group as the “Bigot Boys,” and added that their views won’t be accepted in the Empire State.
“I have a message for the ‘Bigot Boys’ who skulk around like cowards in the dead of night: when you preach hate and division, New York answers with love and unity. Crawl back into your hole, Bigot Boys — there’s no place for hate in our state.”
