Police on Chicago’s North Side are advising residents to be “situationally aware” as an extremist group’s anti-Semitic “day of hate” approaches. CPD’s Rogers Park (24th) District Place of Worship Safety Advisory Team shared their advice in a community alert on Monday.
Officers in the 24th District patrol West Ridge and Rogers Park, two neighborhoods with the largest concentration of Jewish residents, businesses, and institutions in Chicago.
According to the alert, police have identified “domestic violent extremist messaging” online, establishing Saturday, February 25, as a “national Day of Hate.”
“This anti-Semitic proposed event has instructed like-minded individuals to drop banners, place stickers, and flyers, and vandalize by way of graffiti as forms of biased so-called activism,” the CPD alert said.
Organizers are encouraging participants to submit pictures and videos of their actions, the police said.
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted on February 9 that the event was “originally proposed by an Iowa-based neo-Nazi group [and] has been endorsed and shared online by various extremist groups. No specific Jewish communities or locations have been named online.”
CPD did not identify any specific threats or plans in its alert.
“The Chicago Police Department urges all community members to keep situationally aware and pay attention to your surroundings while out in the neighborhood, not just on Shabbos, but during the week as well,” said the alert.
Police encouraged residents to immediately report all suspicious vehicles, people, and situations to 911.
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