Guelph Police Service are investigating two additional incidents of what they’re calling hate-related graffiti. The news comes just a little over a week after it was reported that someone plastered the front door of the Beth Isaiah Synagogue on Surrey Street West with several anti-Semitic stickers, but it seems that those spreading hate around Guelph are not content with just one act of anti-Semitism.

According to Wednesday’s media release from Guelph Police, the new incidents happened in the last few days. On Saturday afternoon, someone visiting Riverside Park discovered anti-Semitic writing on a building under construction, which included a swastika written in red spray paint. The graffiti was photographed and then removed.

Then, on Monday morning, police were called to a church building on Speedvale Avenue East, where this time there was anti-Black graffiti, including a racial epithet, written in red spray paint. Again, the  graffiti was photographed and then removed.

And yes, police concede that it’s possible that the two incidents are related due to the use of the red spray paint.

This comes just over a week after police reported that they were investigating an incident on October 5 when someone put several anti-Semitic stickers on the front door of Beth Isaiah, including stickers that bore the image of none other than Adolf Hitler. The suspect then took a selfie of himself in front of the door when he was done.

The suspect in that case is described as wearing a dark jacket with a sweater hood pulled up over his head, black pants, black boots, black gloves, a dark-coloured backpack and a balaclava-style mask over his face. He was last seen walking northbound on Dublin Street South at around 11:30 pm on Wednesday October 5.

A couple of days after Guelph Police disclosed the incident at Beth Isaiah, the Waterloo Regional Police announced that hate-motivated graffiti was found written on the side of the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Kitchener.  Police didn’t release details about the graffiti, but CTV News Kitchener said it included, “white supremacist codes and a reference to Adolf Hitler.”

Guelph Police are treating these local cases as hate-motivated crimes and added that such acts will not be tolerated and that they will be fully investigated.

Anyone that has any information about these, or other hate crime incidents, are asked to call the hate crimes co-ordinator Detective Constable Jagdeep Atwal at 519-824-1212, ext. 7436, or email him at jatwal@guelphpolice.ca. You can also leave an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at http://www.csgw.tips.