Grave Attack SickeningThe desecration of Jewish graves with anti-semitic messages at a central Auckland cemetery is "sickening", Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres says.
Police are appealing for information after about 20 gravestones were vandalised at the Symonds Street Cemetery, on the corner of Symonds St and Karangahape Rd, sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, when the damage was discovered.
Some headstones had large graffiti swastikas crudely sprayed on them, while others had expletive-ridden anti-semitic messages scrawled over them.
"I am saddened and sickened by this," de Bres said.
"I am sorry that the Jewish community has had to experience this again. I know that New Zealanders of all faiths and ethnicities will feel the same as I do and offer their support to the Jewish community."
He said this kind of anti-semitism is rare, and the Auckland Council deserves credit for removing the damage quickly.
The cemetery, Auckland's first, has long been the target of vandalism and also attracts people sleeping rough.
Yesterday, New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman said it was incredibly disappointing to see the damage.
He believed the last such attack was on a Wellington cemetery in 2005.
Goodman said attacks like this usually came after international unrest but he couldn't think of anything specific that would have sparked the latest incident.
There is a CCTV camera nearby but he was not pinning his hopes on retrieving any incriminating evidence for police.
He said he had raised concerns with Auckland Council in the past about security at the site.
Earlier this year the Waitemata Local Board agreed to a $1.6 million funding boost to improve maintenance and security at the cemetery, among other things.
The much-needed spend was to clean up vegetation, make pathways safer, and better maintain grave sites.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/7841626/Grave-attack-sickening