Unidentified individuals spray-painted Nazi symbols on a wall of a synagogue in Blackpool, north of Liverpool, on Tuesday night, police said.
“We received a report that racist graffiti had been sprayed on an outside wall of the Jewish Synagogue, Raikes Parade, Blackpool. It is believed the graffiti was sprayed in the early hours of Tuesday, October 20,” a spokesperson for Lancashire Police told the Blackpool Gazette on Friday.
The bishop of Blackburn, Philip North, was among the prominent officials who condemned the incident, which police are investigating as a hate crime, the report said. North called the incident “an assault on the values of respect, dignity and freedom of religion,” and called for an “unwavering rejection of antisemitism.”
Rachel Tax, president of the Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation, told the paper: “My feelings when I first saw it were horror, disbelief and sadness. The Reform Congregation has been in Blackpool for 65 years and we have never had any trouble like this before.”
The graffiti also included two lightning bolts, resembling the Nazi SS insignia, and the number 1488, a neo-Nazi code combining the white supremacist “14 Words” slogan with “88,” representing “Heil Hitler,” according to the Blackpool Lead.
