Andrew Anglin

By Sam Kestenbaum October 19, 2017

The Neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer is encouraging flash mobs at minority and Jewish institutions near University of Florida to coincide with a scheduled speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer later today.

Among the addresses posted by the neo-Nazi site were the local Chabad Center and the Institute of Black Culture.

“The entire campus is going to be crawling with security and cops,” the post, written by the site’s publisher Andrew Anglin, reads. The post is meant for those who are unable to actually attend Spencer’s speech.

“The point is to confuse the situation and to create public attention, to make it feel like the entire city is taken over by our guys,” Anglin wrote. “Flash demo should be ten minutes, tops.”

The University of Florida’s president has urged students to neither attend the event nor protest. Some campus groups are holding alternative events to coincide with the event, including the local Hillel, which is providing a “safe space” with security during the speech.

“This type of activity is dangerous,” the Anti-Defamation League wrote on Twitter alongside screenshots of Anglin’s call for flash mobs. “We encourage people to avoid this event all together. Showing up will only play into their hands.”

By 12:00pm, Anglin’s post had been removed. Anglin is known for his over-the-top provocation and mounting online “troll storms” against those he sees as enemies, but does not organize any real-world rallies or events. Last year, Anglin boasted of how he would organize an armed march in Montana, in part to target the Jewish community there, but failed to get a permit.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

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