Hate-filled vandals spray-painted swastikas in a Queens playground and opposite another park across the world’s borough in separate Sunday incidents, police said.
In the first antisemitic act, five swastikas were found painted on the ground, over signs and other objects at the corner of Highland Boulevard and Vermont Place near the Ridgewood Reservoir around 8 a.m., cops said.
A photo posted by City Council Speaker Julie Menin on X shows a swastika brazenly painted in bright red over a sign marking the entrance to the reservoir.
Five swastikas were found painted near the Ridgewood Reservoir, including this one discovered scrawled on a sign. X / @SpeakerMenin Then at noon, six of the hateful symbols were found scrawled underneath an underpass at 72nd Road and Union Turnpike inside Forest Park Playground in Forest Hills, authorities said.
The crimson symbols marred several pillars supporting the underpass, the photos posted by Menin show.
No arrests had been made in connection to the graffiti by late Monday afternoon, police said.
Six of the swastikas were discovered beneath an underpass at 72nd Road and Union Turnpike inside Forest Park Playground in Forest Hills. X / @SpeakerMenin Menin, along with Council Members Lynn Schulman and Joann Ariola, condemned the bias-fueled vandalism – found about a week after similar anti-Jewish graffiti was discovered in other parts of Queens.
Vandals struck multiple homes and Jewish religious sites May 4 – including a synagogue started by refugees fleeing the Holocaust.
“This is yet another hateful incident meant to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers and divide our city. And we want to be clear: We cannot and will not accept this as normal,” the elected officials wrote.
“That’s why the Council passed our Five-Point Action Plan to Combat Antisemitism, and why we’ll continue fighting for education and accountability,” they added. “We’re in touch with the NYPD, which is investigating. The Parks Department will remove the graffiti as soon as possible.”
