London, Ont. police investigating 2nd case of hate-related graffiti in city

A day after London, Ont. police launched an investigation into hateful messages that were found on a north London playground, a second probe has been initiated following a similar incident in the city’s northwest.

Police say they were alerted early Wednesday morning to hate-related symbols and words spray painted on signs and fencing along Hawthorne Road and at an area park in the city’s Whitehills neighbourhood.

Few other details were reported, including the content of the symbols and words. Police added that they had no suspect information.

“Although coded as ‘property damage’ it is so much more,” said London Police Chief Steve Williams in a tweet. “It’s a hateful, ignorant & ugly attack impacting individuals & our community. We will thoroughly investigate.”

The investigation follows a similar incident early Tuesday when hate-related messaging was scrawled on the playground of Stephens Farm Park, located at South Wenige Drive and Thistlewood Drive.

The graffiti, cleaned up by the early afternoon, included multiple swastikas and a racial slur, according to a report by CTV London.

“There is nothing to indicate the two incidents are related at this time,” police spokesperson Cst. Sandasha Bough said in an email.

Both incidents come after a mural celebrating diversity in Aylmer, Ont. was defaced over the weekend.

The eyes of some of the individuals on the mural, located along the side of a building along John Street, were blacked out with spray paint sometime Saturday morning.

The word Sodom was scribbled across the bottom of the mural. One reference to the word is the name of the biblical city destroyed by God for its wickedness.

According to a report going before the London Police Services Board on Thursday, the number of hate/bias motivated incidents and crimes in the city rose from 93 in 2020 to 146 in 2021.

Members of London’s Black community, LGBTQ2+ community, Muslim community, Jewish community, and Middle Eastern community experienced the most reported hate incidents in 2021, the report says, representing 71 per cent of all such incidents reported to the service.

“Property damage continues to be the most frequently occurring type of hate-motivated crime, accounting for 46% of all occurrences, although 2021 did see an increase in the number of violent crimes, accounting for 31% of all cases in 2021. In the majority of violent occurrences (92%), the primary offence was assault,” the report states.

At least 55 criminal charges were laid in 2021 as a result of reported hate/bias motivated occurrences, the report states.