A Mexican cheer-dance team faced heavy condemnation on Friday when a video of a recent Nazi-themed performance surfaced on social media sites. 

According to the Associated Press, the two dozens girls and one boy performed a routine in which they displayed red flags with swastikas and wore camouflage military outfits with red armbands. 

One girl even apparently threw a Nazi salute out to the crowd of the cheer-dance competition held several weeks ago in the western city of Guadalajara. 

Readers of local news sites blamed the offensive performance on the team’s choreographer, asserting the girls couldn’t possibly know that much about Nazis. 

Meanwhile, instead of denouncing the questionable routine, event organizer Enrique Casas defended the girls from “aggressive” comments on social media sites. 

“The comments have gone beyond freedom of expression … and have included direct insults against the girls.”

Explaining that the routines were chosen by the teams without input from the event’s organizers, Casas suggested “safeguards” might be needed for the next competition in order “to avoid hurting people’s feelings.”

“The invitations are going to be restricted in certain ways to avoid social conflicts,” Casas added. 

Mexico is not known to have any significant neo-Nazi movements, but does have a nearly 65,000-strong Jewish community.