Winnipeg, MB – Members of the Jewish and Muslim communities say they’re disturbed and saddened after a series of hate-related graffiti messages against Jews and Arabs were spray-painted on an underpass in Winnipeg’s Point Douglas area.
The graffiti, which included a swastika and hateful messages such as “hail Hitler” and “KKKanada,” was spotted by CBC reporters on Annabella Street, north of Higgins Avenue, on Tuesday. It’s not clear when the graffiti was originally painted.
The City of Winnipeg sent a crew out that same day to clean up the graffiti and confirmed that it has been removed.
Marvin Rotrand, the national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, said that he is shocked to see such antisemitic messages but not surprised, as such messages are still far too commonly seen in Canada.
“We can’t at this point know their motivations,” he said of the person or people behind the vandalism, but such graffiti is generally “meant to hurt, and it does.”
“Generally, the profile of these people are those who are hateful toward religious minorities [and] immigrants, and are white supremacists.
