A couple in Minnesota were banned from shopping at Walmart after going viral when they were caught wearing swastika masks while at the store.
Raphaela Mueller, vicar of a southwestern Minnesota parish, took to Facebook on Saturday to post a video of a man and woman wearing face masks made from bandanas adorned with the then giant swastikas. they were at a Walmart cash register in Marshall, Minnesota.
In the video, a man who is off camera can be heard saying to the couple, “You are sick. You got a disease, you can’t be an American and wear that mask.
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Minnesota couple were banned from shopping at Walmart after going viral for wearing swastika masks while shopping at a store on Saturday afternoon
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The couple had an argument with other buyers who told them how offensive face masks were
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As the man speaks, the female half of the couple throws their arms in the air in a ‘ta-da!’ gesture, before blinking his middle finger at the camera.
The man she’s with – who appears to be wearing a Trump t-shirt – also throws his arms in the air, before quickly returning to putting items on the treadmill.
“We’ve literally had a war over this,” the man says off camera, as the swastika-adorned woman walks around.
As the woman mutters something unintelligible, a second man off camera says, “My grandfather killed Nazis.”
The woman then paces around, denying the fact that she is a Nazi, saying instead that “socialism is going to happen here in America” and that “if you vote for Biden, this is what we’re going to get, socialism!
This mask is “incredibly offensive,” one of the off-camera men tells her as the woman walks away, while the man she’s with continues to check their items.
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The female half of the couple are pictured here greeting people they would later argue with
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At one point, the woman walked over to the people filming them. Woman said socialism would be the result if Joe Biden won the 2020 election
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The woman denied being a Nazi. Police issued trespassing notices to the couple that day
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Raphaela Mueller posted the shocking video encounter on Facebook on Saturday afternoon
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Mueller, who appears to have been the person who recorded the video, wrote in her Facebook post: “I was born and raised in Germany, and I grew up hearing about my great-grandmother who fought in the underground against the first wave of Nazis. in the 30’s and 40’s. Let me clarify this once and for all – SWASTIKA IS A SYMBOL OF HATE AND YOU DON’T FLY THE FLAG, YOU DON’T WEAR THE SYMBOL ALL OVER YOUR BODY, YOU DO NOT USE OR DO NEVER DEFEND THIS SYMBOL. END OF THE STORY.’
Mueller wrote on Facebook that the store manager said “he didn’t have the power to keep them out, no matter what mask they wore.”
She also noted that she intended to call the customer service hotline and “make it as far as possible to the top of the food chain.”
“They shouldn’t (shouldn’t?) Allow people without a face mask now that their new rule is in effect, offensive masks should be in the same category as no masks,” Mueller added.
After the music video went viral, Walmart confirmed that the incident happened at their Marshall store.
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Mueller (pictured) said she was born and raised in Germany and noted that ‘the swastika is a symbol of hatred and you don’t fly the flag’ or ‘defend that symbol, never’
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Police told KARE they were called to Walmart around noon on Saturday because the couple’s masks were creating disruption at the scene.
Marshall PD issued the couple – identified only as a 59-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman – with a trespass notice. The duo then left the store without incident, police said.
It is not known who called the police on the couple with the swastika masks.
On Saturday night, Walmart released a statement about the incident.
“What happened today at our store in Marshall, MN is unacceptable. We strive to provide a safe and comfortable shopping environment for all of our customers and will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any aspect of our business, ”Walmart said in the statement obtained by KARE.
“We ask everyone to wear face masks when entering our stores for their safety and the safety of others and it is unfortunate that some people have taken advantage of this pandemic as an opportunity to create a distressing situation for customers and our store associates. “
Walmart also told the news channel that the trespassing notices sent to the couple banned them from going to any Walmart for at least a year.
The couple had apparently decided to wear the swastika bandanas in protest against the state’s mandatory mask rule, which went into effect on Saturday and was released to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to the Star Tribune.
Mueller told the newspaper, “Trauma has been shown to be biologically passed down through generations in your DNA.
She noted that: “My immediate physical reaction was nausea and the desire to cry, so I can’t imagine what it must be like for other people who lost family members during the Holocaust. “
Although authorities have not named the couple, Facebook users claim to know the couple.
They ‘were known as bigot[[sic]been in town for a while now, ”wrote one Facebook user. “They spray painted ‘build the wall’ on their garage a year ago. I had to drive to middle school every[[sic]day and spend it.
The Facebook user added that his garage post currently reads: “Democrat = socialism”.
While the couple wearing a swastika are not facing charges stemming from the incident, they could be arrested if they put food at a Walmart in the next 365 days.
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