A racist parade depicting Vice President Kamla Harris at a community Halloween parade outside Pittsburgh has sparked backlash, prompting organizers to apologize.

A vehicle drove through the Westmoreland County Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department’s Halloween parade Wednesday, decorated with American flags and Republican campaign signs. presidential candidate Donald Trump. The float was flanked by men dressed as Secret Service agents and had a fake rifle on top. A person dressed as Harris could be seen chained and walking behind the cart.

Photos of the float have circulated on social media, prompting widespread criticism for its racist depiction and calls for an explanation as to why the float was approved in the first place.

“We, the members of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for allowing offensive participants to participate in the annual Mount Pleasant Halloween Parade last night,” the volunteer fire department posted in -a statement on his Facebook page Thursday evening. “We do not share the values ​​represented by those participants and understand how it hurt or offended members of our community.”

Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey convict Thursday’s parade. “I was horrified, angry, angry,” she said. “This is not in this parade or this town.”

Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton said in a statement Friday that she was appalled by the float, calling it “a disgusting display of hate.”

“The depiction of Vice President Harris in chains at the hands of her opponent is well-founded symbolism from our country’s painful past. Displays like these are never appropriate in civil discourse and are inconsistent with our values ​​as Pennsylvanians,” the Philadelphia Democrat said. “With such a display of hate in their community, leaders should not be silent, so I am calling on local officials, including my colleagues in the General Assembly, to join me in condemning this hate. Those responsible must be held accountable and restore community trust. We must work together to move Pennsylvania forward, not backward.”

McClinton is the first woman and the first black woman to lead the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in its 244-year history.

Daylon A. Davis, president of the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP, released a statement calling the portrait “appalling.”

“(This) goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression,” Davis said. “It is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression and racism that black and brown communities have long endured here in America.”

The Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department said participation in the 70-year-old parade has traditionally been treated as first-come, first-served with staff “only (providing) safety and traffic control,” and not reviewing floats or costumes before the event. The department said it plans to overhaul its process to avoid future problems.