On Sunday, York Regional Police were called to three different schools in Markham, each of which had been vandalized with anti-Semitic and racist graffiti.
The messages referenced the KKK and “white power” and also compared the Jewish Star of David symbol to a swastika.
Families bringing their children to play in the school yard made the shocking discovery at William Armstrong Public School. Similar graffiti was found at Reesor Park P.S. and at Markham District High School.
Police believe the same suspects are responsible for all three incidents.
York Regional Police Insp. Alvara Almeida said investigators believe the incidents are connected.
“We’ve been investigating throughout the day and as early as 6 p.m. this evening, we’ve determined that all three are connected and we believe the same group of individuals is responsible for all three incidents,” he told CTV Toronto.
Almeida added that police are investigating the incidents as hate crimes.
“We treat these matters very seriously, given the nature of the material and the messages that were painted onto school property,” he said.
“We continue to see a trend of a high level of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada going back to 2012,” said Aidan Fishman, the interim national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
The Star reports, B’nai Brith’s annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents showed a record-breaking year in 2016 for anti-Semitism in Canada, with more than 1,700 incidents, a 26 per cent increase over 2015.
“Even though it was record-breaking as a single year, it’s part of an elevated trend,” Fishman said. “What we’re seeing so far in 2017, both in regard to incidents generally and also specifically with regard to vandalism, unfortunately there’s no breaking of that trend.”
(Nat Golden – YWN)
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One Response
Is it just me or does any one else see something wrong with this picture?
I just can’t imagine Nazi’s or right wing hate groups equating the Star of David with the Swastika. That’s a signature of the left that hates Jews. Looks like someone on the left is trying to manipulate the media.