The Salvation Army has apologized after bell-ringing volunteers from the Hells Angels were photographed brandishing several white supremacist patches on their clothes.
The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that members of the motorcycle club were spotted outside a Walmart in Valparaiso, Indiana, over the weekend, wearing patches that included a Confederate flag and the word “Aryan.”
The Salvation Army was “embarrassed” that it was “unable to prevent this incident,” said Lieutenant Christopher Nicolai of the Salvation Army of Porter County.
He added that members of the Hells Angels Northwest Indiana Region would “not be allowed to volunteer in the future.”
“Our commitment to nondiscrimination includes a dress code for bell ringers, requiring that they wear red Salvation Army aprons, and making it clear that no ‘symbol, marking, or lettering that is viewed as discrimination’ may be worn,” Nicolai said in a statement provided to the Times.
“Clearly, the bell ringers in question did not comply with this dress code.”
A Walmart spokesperson told CBS Chicago that the volunteers had been asked to leave as soon as employees were notified about the offensive attire.
“We made the Salvation Army aware and they apologized,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The Salvation Army is responsible for screening its volunteers stationed outside our stores. We’ve had a long history of supporting the Salvation Army and regret this isolated incident.”
Hells Angels did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on the incident.