Photo courtesy Marblehead Police Department
By LEAH DEARBORN and THOR JOURGENSEN
MARBLEHEAD — Town residents and officials will rally today at 10 a.m. at Riverhead Beach to protest a rash of anti-Semitic graffiti discovered on a harbor causeway wall off Ocean Avenue Friday evening as police continue to investigate the incident.
“The graffiti, which consisted of racially offensive, anti-Semitic and extremely disturbing language ran over a large portion of the wall,” Marblehead police said in a statement.
“Similarly offensive” graffiti was discovered in what police described as a remote section of Seaside Park. Police called on Essex Sheriff’s Department and town public works employees to remove the graffiti.
East Coast Standup Paddleboard instructors Brandon Consigli and Jack Knight were sitting near the causeway at Riverhead Beach on Sunday afternoon after the offensive graffiti had been sandblasted clean.
Consigli pointed to the spot that was vandalized and recalled seeing a line of police cars and a portion of the graffiti before it was removed.
“From what I heard it was some pretty nasty stuff,” he said.
Consigli, a Marblehead resident, said he’d like to ask the perpetrator what prompted them to deface a town structure that way.
Anyone who has information on the incidents is urged to contact Marblehead Police detectives, (781) 631-1212.
The graffiti is the most recent in a string of anti-Semitic acts in Marblehead and Swampscott condemned by town officials and residents.
Marblehead police were called last August 18 to a rock thrown through a high school window. While investigating the vandalism, police found “Jews did 9/11” spelled out on the dirt on the school softball field.
Earlier in 2016 pennies in the shape of a swastika, an emblem of the Nazi party, were photographed and posted on Snapchat. Swastikas were also scrolled on some basketball courts in multiple town parks.
In April, 2016, Swampscott police received reports of swastikas chalked on a Pleasant Street sidewalk and another swastika scrawled in the parking lot of the middle school.
Officials in both towns were quick to condemn the anti-Semitic discoveries. High school students in both communities have been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for efforts to educate fellow students about hate crimes and to organize against anti-Semitic behavior on social media.
In light of anti-Semitic incidents in Marblehead, the ADL partnered in 2016 with Marblehead High School to implement an Anti-Bias Education program.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected] and Leah Dearborn can be reached at [email protected]