Sep 25, 2009 1:27 pm US/Eastern
Anti-Semitic Group Prompts Counter Protests On LI
Counter Protesters Fight Back Against Hate Spewing Group In Great Neck
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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An anti-semitic group from Kansas again spewed messages of hate on Friday, Sept. 25, before a group of counter protesters in Great Neck, Long Island.
CBS
A hate group from Kansas with an anti-Semitic message travelled to a Long Island town to stir up trouble.
But residents from Great Neck, a predominantly Jewish community, in the days before Yom Kippur, had a message of their own.
About seven members of a hate spewing group, calling themselves the Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist church from Topeka, set up shop near the Chabad of Great Neck just before noon on Friday.
Protesters, including two children, held signs with messages of hate against homosexuals, Jews and President Barack Obama.
Most of the demonstrators identify themselves as relatives of Reverend Fred Phelps, who in the past has protested at the funeral of soldiers overseas, and even at the funeral of newsman Walter Cronkite.
The latest series of protests during the Jewish high holy days has prompted Jewish counter protesters to take to the streets to say "no."
"These people who call themselves Baptists are about as Baptists as I am, or as Catholic as I am. And even though I'm wearing a yarmulke, I assure you I'm not the Pope," said demonstrator Bob Unger.
"We have to show them that we're not just going to sit back and be silent, that we have to protest," said fellow counter protestor Sandy Rainer.
"I'm a WWII veteran and I shed my blood. I was wounded in Noranburg, Germany and I feel it's my duty to come and protest. I thought we had killed off the Nazi's, but obviously not," said Veteran Irving Cohen.
"These people have a voice, we have a voice. And we have to express our opinion of what they stand for, and if we don't protest, they'll only grow larger," said David Coppell.
Meanwhile on Thursday, members of the same group demonstrated outside the Brooklyn Technical High School, again holding signs with hurtful words against homosexuals, and Jews.
Students and families were outraged.
"I'm completely disgusted by them," one woman said.
"You think that it's safe and things are moving forward. And you don't really want to go back to the 60s. And here it is right in front of you," another woman added.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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