BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Boise Police responded to Camel's Back Park on Tuesday afternoon for a report of antisemitic vandalism carved into sandstone by juveniles, city spokesperson Haley Williams told the Idaho Press.
Two citizens and an officer hiked to the image and removed it from the sandstone, Williams said.
“BPD takes all reports of this conduct seriously and the responding officer took a report and began an investigation. As with any crime of this nature, officers investigated to determine if there was any evidence that a victim was specifically targeted and if there is evidence of a hate crime,” Williams said. “At this time, there does not appear to be anyone who was specially targeted.”
Photos on social media appear to show an image of a swastika.
The swastika is the symbol of Nazi Germany, whose leader Adolf Hitler carried out a genocide that murdered more than 10 million, including six million Jews. The Holocaust is infamous for its inhumanity. Its victims were starved in ghettos, killed in trucks the Nazis engineered to pump in carbon monoxide, shot and worked to death, among other methods of murder.
This is not a new issue for the city of Boise. Just last week, white supremacist vandalism was found on the footbridge near Payette Brewing.
Swastikas were also discovered in recent years on a historic building downtown, in a bike lane in northwest Boise, and in the tunnels on the Boise River Greenbelt and the Anne Frank Memorial. Additionally, swastikas were found on a St. Luke’s hospital in McCall.
A mural was painted inside the Eighth Street Tunnel in response to antisemitic graffiti that was spray painted in several Greenbelt tunnels.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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