Crowds gathered at an anti-racist vigil in Dollis Hill this evening to condemn Nazi graffiti daubed on bus stops and pavements near their homes.
Neighbours woke up on Sunday morning to find swastikas spraypainted onto street signs, pavements and outside houses in Hamilton Road, Fleetwood Road and Kendal Road.
Members of campaign group Brent Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) scrubbed the area clean ahead of the vigil, which was attended by neighbours, rabbis, councillors anad activists from Unite Against Fascism.
Lucy Cox from Brent SUTR, who organised it, said: “What has happened is really shocking.
“We just want people to know they are not alone. The community stands united. We are not going to have hate in our community. We’ve never experienced this before and we are not going to lie down and accept it now.”
She said her partner went out for a run on Sunday morning and returned with pictures on his phone. She added: “I thought: ‘We have to go and clean it up. We can’t leave it – it’s horrendous’.”
She added: “There are quite a few Jewish people around here and there was graffiti right outside their doors. It could be a coincidence but if it was me, I’d feel really intimidated.”
One man, Gregory, whose father’s family were murdered in Hitler’s concentration camps, told the Times at the vigil: “This does go to my heart. It’s very close to home – a resurgance of that concept. I feel abhorrence for the community more than for me. It’s a horrid concept to spread. I don’t feel it was directed at me. It was a horrid promotion of evil doctrine.”
Dudden Hill’s Cllr Krupesh Hirani (Lab), who checked on neighbours on Sunday, said he didn’t believe individuals were targeted, just visible areas. He added: “It was a horrific act done by people with abhorrent views. It’s not something we welcome in this quiet area.”
Police said they were called at 10am on April 8 to reports of anti-Semitic graffiti written in and around Hamilton Road,
A spokesman said: “There has been no arrest, and no suspect has been identified – if any information comes to light about the incident, it will be assessed by officers.”
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