Ottawa police investigating hate-motivated graffiti at Elgin Street courthouse
Posted Nov 15, 2021 05:14:00 PM.
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) says it's investigating an incident of hate-motivated vandalism at the Ontario Court of Justice on Elgin Street.
Officers were called to the scene at 8:20 a.m., Monday, November 15, and found graffiti on the side of the building and a swastika spray painted on the sign out front.
The Jewish Federation of Ottawa is denouncing the act of vandalism.
“The swastika is a symbol of the murder of millions of Jews, and the terrorization of millions more. This hateful graffiti represents hostility toward Canada’s democratic values,” said Andrea Freeman, federation CEO. “This is an attack on a core Canadian institution with imagery used to both intimidate Jews and to cynically appropriate our trauma and the Jewish lived experience for totally unrelated political purposes. We abhor the continuing use of the Holocaust, Nazism, and the genocide of European Jews for propaganda purposes. It must stop.”
Police have not released any other details regarding the incident as the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the OPS at 613-236-1222 or submit a tip anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-8477.
