The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is investigating antisemitic graffiti found on a sidewalk in front of an east Toronto church Tuesday.
Police said they first received a call reporting the graffiti, located outside Toronto United Mennonite Church at Queen and Lark streets in the city's Beaches neighbourhood, at approximately 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The force says the graffiti was reported as a hate crime.
Chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Bernie Farber, tells CTV Toronto that the incident is sadly unsurprising.
“It seems to be circus time for anti-Semites in a way that I’ve never seen quite before,” he said, adding there has been an “explosion” of hatred against the community in recent months.
“It’s kind of perplexing why we’re having this sudden increase, but then again, not so much because we have social media. Social media, basically, is the tool that hate-mongers love to use.”
Farber says the words painted on the ground were “frightening” and “soul-destroying,” and is glad to see that police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
“When the perpetrator is caught … they have to know that this is a criminal act that could land them in prison for up to two years,” he said. “This is a serious crime.”
With files from CTV Toronto's Beth Macdonell
