Group of masked men harass parents leaving Taunton drag story time
TAUNTON, Mass. (WJAR) — A mother is now seeking therapy for her children after they watched a group of masked men barge into a library last weekend to protest a drag queen story hour.
Last weekend, Amilia Hoard saw a posting on Facebook about the story hour hosted at the Taunton Public Library -- little did she know the scene that would unfold once she got inside.
"We'd never gone to an event like this before and we thought it would be fun so that's how we ended up going," Hoard said.
Hoard said her three kids were intently listening to the first story when another parent alerted her to a commotion in back of the room.
"I was like, 'What's going on?' and my daughter shook my arm and then said, 'Momma look,' and pointed to the back of the room and I looked and that's when I saw three men dressed in black wearing black face masks, ski masks," Hoard said.
Hoard went to leave the library, but as she did, took a video showing more than a dozen masked men standing on the sidewalk.
According to Hoard, "The men were screaming, child abuser, your children are going to hate you, that person's a pedophile, in reference to the drag queen, and my kids were obviously startled because we were unaccompanied walking to the car by ourselves."
The men were identified as members of NSC-131, the Nationalist Social Club, which is recognized as a white nationalist organization responsible for leaving racist flyers across Southern New England.
They've also been spotted protesting similar events across the region including another drag queen story time hosted in Fall River that same day.
No arrests were made at either event but some members of the group face charges in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for numerous civil rights allegations.