Melbourne Beach and Indialantic, FL – Residents in at least two beachside communities awoke Monday to find front yards and driveways littered with antisemitic fliers in what authorities say may have been a coordinated effort in several Florida locations.
“We’ve had a few that have been picked up and we’ve had some people who brought them in,” said Melbourne Beach Police Chief Melanie Griswold. “It’s disturbing. There were about 190 distributed in Melbourne Beach overnight but it all started coming in this morning. Our officers didn’t see anything, but if we did, we would have stopped them for littering.”
Hundreds of similar fliers, steeped in conspiracies related to COVID-19, also were distributed in South Florida, including Miami and Surfside, prompting police to step up patrols in the affected neighborhoods, according to media reports. Several synagogues were alerted.
The fliers found in Melbourne Beach and Indialantic were sealed in plastic baggies weighted with rocks, Griswold said.
