Two Montreal-area riding associations filedpolice complaints Monday after several of their campaign signs were defaced with swastikas.<\/p>\n
The Liberal riding association of Hochelaga, in east-end Montreal, contacted police when they found the Nazi symbol spray-painted on at least six signs for candidateSoraya Martinez Ferrada, aformer city councillor.<\/p>\n
Deputy campaign manager Lionel Fritz Adimi spent Monday morning removing themand plans to hand them overto police as evidence.<\/p>\n
The signs werevandalized to include a swastika over the Liberal logoand a mark that looks like a bullet hole on the candidate's head.<\/p>\n
Adimihas worked on several campaigns and says he expected some of Ferrada's signs to be vandalized. But he said the campaign decided to file a police complaint because of the hateful nature of the graffiti.<\/p>\n
\"Such hate doesn't have a place in Canadian politics,\" he said. \"Everyone should call out such actions.\"<\/p>\n
In Pierrefonds-Dollard, at least three campaign signs belonging to Conservative candidateMariamIshakwere also defaced withswastikas.<\/p>\n
Helen Thibault, a spokespersonfor Ishak's campaign, said they began noticing the vandalized signs on Sunday. They too filed a police complaint on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"There's just no room for hate in the community of Pierrefonds-Dollard, nor is there room for hate in any community across Canada. We need to be better than this,\" she said.<\/p>\n
It's not clear whether either candidate was specifically targeted; neither is Jewish.<\/p>\n
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a statement decrying the signs.<\/p>\n
\"Defacing election signs is illegal and anti-democratic. Using swastikas is particularly egregious,\" it wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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2 Montreal-area campaigns file police complaints after swastikas painted on signs - CBC News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two Montreal-area riding associations filedpolice complaints Monday after several of their campaign signs were defaced with swastikas. Continue reading