Mannequins in Cary Belk arranged to resemble Nazi salute

CARY, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Racial and anti-Semitic symbolism appeared to rear its ugly head Sunday in the Triangle when rows of mannequins at Belk department store in Cary were rearranged with outstretched arms reminiscent of Nazi salutes.

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The incident happened at Cary Towne Center. A customer inside the store took the photo and posted it to social media, and said in part, "How many people walked by this and didn't notice, oblivious, or saw it and did nothing? Awestruck, I watched about twenty before I couldn't take it. It's about action, and when it comes to racism and inequality, no act of defending love and equality is small."

The arms have since been reset to their normal positions.

Belk told ABC11 it was reviewing security camera footage. Belk said the cameras, which pan, tilt and zoom, scan around and aren't fixed to one spot.

The footage shows the mannequins' arms were down at 4:27 p.m. At 5:16 p.m., cameras showed a customer taking photos of the mannequins and then lowering one of the arms.

Belk is not releasing video at this time but store officials said there is no video of the arms being raised.

Store associates who worked Sunday are being interviewed and Belk told ABC11 it takes this incident "very seriously."

The incident comes on the heels of the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white nationalist group clashed with counter-protesters.

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One of those protesters, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed after a car rammed into a group protesting the presence of white supremacists who had gathered for a rally in the normally quiet college town.

In Raleigh, a candlelight vigil is planned for 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Martin Luther King Memorial Gardens at 1500 Martin Luther King Boulevard for victims of this weekend's violence. A protest is in the works for Durham as well.

Also on Monday, President Donald Trump named and condemned "repugnant" hate groups and declared that "racism is evil" in a far more forceful statement than he'd made initially after the deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville.

Belk plans to release a statement once its investigation is complete.