GREELEY – Police say Christmas signs posted on utility poles in Greeley by a white nationalist organization violate city ordinance.

The Greeley Tribune reports most of the signs that were taped to poles in downtown Greeley and near the Weld County Courthouse around Christmas Day by Identity Evropa have been torn down.

The signs displayed a white family opening presents around the tree and read “Merry Christmas! From Identity Evropa.”

The Southern Policy Law Center says Identity Evropa — founded in 2016 by an Iraq war veteran — is a “campus-based organization [that] focuses on raising white racial consciousness, building community based on shared racial identity and intellectualizing white supremacist ideology.”

Identity Evropa spokesman Sam Harrington says the signs were part of the group’s “right to peacefully, politically protest.”

Harrington says the signs were part of a nationwide campaign.

Signs were also spotted in Fort Collins, Breckenridge, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Greeley municipal code does not allow notices or advertisements to be placed on property without the consent of the owner.