Jewish leader condemns recent anti-Semitic graffiti on Geelong warehouse
A Jewish leader has reacted with anger after an “offensive” anti-Semitic marking was painted on a Geelong building amid concerns right-wing extremists are recruiting in regional cities.
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A Jewish leader has reacted with outrage after an “offensive” anti-Semitic marking was painted on a Geelong building amid concerns right-wing extremists are recruiting in regional cities.
The City of Greater Geelong and Victoria Police have been made aware of a warehouse on Thompson Road in North Geelong that was defaced with a large Nazi swastika in April, with the disturbing graffiti highly visible from Melbourne Rd.
Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Daniel Aghion said the appearance of the emblem was “criminal” and should be investigated by police.
“It’s more than disappointing, from my community’s perspective, we are angry,” he said.
“You don’t have to be Jewish to know how offensive a swastika is.
“When you think about the values it represents and the values that we Australians hold deeply here, it is against everything that we as Australians believe in.
“So when we see this, we get angry and I think that also represents the general community as well.”
The swastika is largely identified as a symbol of hate used by Adolf Hitler as the centrepiece of the Nazi flag and white supremacism.
It is a criminal offence to intentionally display a symbol of Nazi ideology in a public place or in public view, after the Victorian government introduced new legislation in December.
Those found guilty can face fines of up to $22,000 and 12 months in jail.
Victoria Police is looking into the incident.
The City of Greater Geelong acting director of city Infrastructure, David Greaves, said the property manager at the North Geelong site had been contacted by council and the Nazi signage had been removed.
“The city monitors offensive graffiti closely and in cases of ongoing racist or anti-religious motivated graffiti, we will engage with Victoria Police to monitor the situation,” he said.
“Removal of offensive graffiti, be it symbols, words, messaging, or drawings is treated as a matter of urgency by the City with the intention for graffiti such as this to be removed within 24 hours of a report being received.”
Leading Senior Constable Adam West told the Geelong Advertiser “there is absolutely no place at all in our society for anti-sematic or hate-based symbols and behaviour.”
It comes as around 20 neo-Nazis clashed with police and anti-racism protesters in the Melbourne CBD on Saturday.
The anti-immigration rally was organised on encrypted messaging app Telegram on Friday and is alleged to have involved the suspected leader of the National Socialist Network and European Australian Movement, Thomas Sewell.
Mr Aghion said the two groups were becoming “much more brazen” in their approach of “disaffected loners” in regional centre’s such as Geelong.
“We are concerned about how blatant they are becoming,” he said.
“These idiots used to hide in the dark corners of the internet but they are becoming much more public. That is leading to their recruiting activities being more bold, and we are aware they do recruit regionally.
“So we think it’s important to remove or reduce their public profile so they don’t have that recruiting ability.”
Victoria Police has been contacted for comment.
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