COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and multiple Columbus city officials made their thoughts known Saturday after receiving earlier reports that a group of neo-Nazis marched in the Short North Arts District.

NBC4 received multiple eyewitness accounts and video around 1:45 p.m. of the march, which showed at least eleven people wearing masks walking down the sidewalk. The group carried flags bearing swastikas near the intersection of 1st Avenue and North High Street, and also shouted obscenities into a megaphone. DeWine, who denounced the group’s actions, also confirmed more details of the incident.

“We will not tolerate hate in Ohio,” DeWine wrote. “Neo-Nazis — their faces hidden behind red masks — roamed streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews. There were reports that they were also espousing white power sentiments.”

The Short North Civic Association also shared an account Saturday night of a confrontation between the neo-Nazis and a bystander during the march. The bystander sprayed the group with “repellent spray,” and the neo-Nazis retaliated by spraying them with mace. Columbus police were in the area and stepped in to break up the encounter, according to the association.

In a Sunday morning update, police said officers investigated the encounter and at first detained multiple neo-Nazi protestors for assault. However, police said it was later determined an assault did not take place and released all individuals that were initially detained. Columbus police said no arrests were made.

City Council President Shannon Hardin rejected the group’s “pathetic efforts to promote fear and hate.”

“I’ve been in touch with law enforcement about Nazis marching through the city,” Hardin said.

City Attorney Zach Klein also confirmed he was in contact with Columbus police regarding the march, and would “continue to monitor this hate group’s actions.”

“Displays of neo-Nazi hate have no home in Columbus,” Klein wrote. “Take your flags and the masks you hide behind and go home and never come back.”

Lee Shapiro, regional director for the American Jewish Committee, did note that Columbus police were “acting to quell this unauthorized march” in a statement Saturday evening.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther also shared comments regarding the march.

“We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threated or harmed because of who they are, how they worship or whom they love,” Ginther said. “We reject the cowardly display reported in the Short North earlier today.”