Vandals deface Laval homes, cars with swastikas

St Rose district of Laval, Quebec PANORAMIO PHOTO
St Rose district of Laval, Quebec PANORAMIO PHOTO

LAVAL, Que. – Thirteen locations throughout the southwestern city of Laval, Que. were struck with anti-Semitic vandalism on Monday night, reports CTV News.

According to Laval police, swastikas were drawn on houses, cars, park benches and a park chalet, alongside other white supremacist symbols.

The vandals also drew a giant Star of David with an ‘X’ over it.

Laval police have started an investigation, but have yet to classify the vandalism as a hate crime.

READ: NEW JEWISH MAYOR WANTS TO PRESERVE PROGRAMS IN CÔTE ST. LUC

According to CTV, on Friday – four days after the attack – the swastikas had yet to be removed from the defaced city property. In an interview, Corey Fleischer, who owns his own power washing company, told CTV it was the worst act of vandalism he’s seen in the city.

“The sort of a thing that I saw today happens to be the worst attack that I’ve come across since I started doing this in the city,” he said.

The crime follows similar anti-Semitic incidents that have struck the greater Montreal area recently. In January, a dozen anti-Semitic symbols were scrawled on the Lachapelle Bridge between Montreal and Laval. Fleischer was on the scene following the crime, which he referred to as a “sophisticated attack.”

In an interview with Global News, he said his company removed roughly a hundred swastikas from the Montreal area through the latter half of 2015.

In March, five swastikas were painted on five cars in the Montreal borough of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Police questioned one man suspected of the crime.

Also in March, Laval University in Quebec City was under fire for its choice of a campaign poster that critics argued resembled Nazi imagery.

The school later unveiled an updated design.


Photo: Panoramio