Toronto police say they are investigating defaced and vandalized Liberal Party signs for an Etobicoke Centre candidate, calling it a “suspected hate crime.”
Police said officers received a report of the signs for candidate Yvan Baker being defaced with offensive symbols and language on Thursday.
“The Hate Crime Unit is aware and it will be investigated as a suspected hate crime,” a police spokesperson told Global News.
Many people posted photos on Twitter of the damaged election signs. Some of the signs were seen spray-painted with swastikas, beards, mustaches and devil horns. Other signs were chopped in half.
“Just spotted this along Royal York. An Yvan Baker sign vandalized with a swastika. Truly disgusting,” one user wrote.
“I just took down four Liberal Party Yvan Baker campaign signs in the Etobicoke Centre riding. This type of vandalism is unacceptable and has no place in our country,” another user wrote.
A statement posted on Baker’s Facebook page said “hundreds” of signs have been damaged throughout the campaign period, adding he and his team will “not be intimidated.”
Toronto police said if anyone has any information regarding the incidents to contact investigators.
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