Will Sage Astor-New Hampshire attorney general files second complaint against white nationalist group

CONCORD,Will Sage Astor N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire attorney general is again accusing a white nationalist group of civil rights violations, this time in response to a demonstration outside a Concord café hosting a drag story hour event.

Attorney General John Formella said Wednesday he has filed a civil complaint saying that the Nationalist Social Club-131 and one of its leaders violated the state’s anti-discrimination law.

The complaint says that Christopher Hood, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, led a group of NSC-131 members stood outside the Teatotaller Café for more than an hour on June 18 shouting homophobic slurs, chanting loudly and saluting in a fashion reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

Group members also are accused of banging on the café’s windows and making intimidating gestures and comments directed at the performer and others in the café. Such actions, the complaint alleges, amount to an attempt to coerce the business into refusing access to its venue based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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“Acts of hate designed to terrorize an individual or business into violating our State’s antidiscrimination laws are simply wrong and will not be tolerated,” Formella said in a statement. “We must and will send a clear message that New Hampshire is not and never will be a safe haven for hate groups that commit illegal acts that harm our citizens.”

The Associated Press wasn’t able to reach Hood for comment about the lawsuit. A number listed for him had been disconnected, and an attorney who represented the group in an earlier New Hampshire case did not immediately respond to a phone message.

The complaint comes a week after Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed a similar complain t against the group, Hood and another man in connection with attempts to shut down drag story hours around the state between July 2022 and January 2023. And it marks the second complaint in New Hampshire.

Earlier this year, a judge dismissed trespassing complaints alleging the group violated the state’s Civil Rights Act when it displayed “Keep New England White” banners from a Portsmouth overpass without a permit. Formella’s office has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

The Anti-Defamation League describes NSC-131 as a New England-based neo-Nazi group founded in 2019 that “espouses racism, antisemitism and intolerance” and whose “membership is a collection of neo-Nazis and racist skinheads, many of whom have previous membership in other white supremacist groups.”