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Swastikas are daubed on church
7:06pm Wednesday 26th March 2008
By David Watkinson »
SWASTIKAS have been painted on a church and other nearby properties in a 'disturbing' attack.
And police are now investigating whether the attacks in Blackburn, which caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage, were targeted at the area's Polish community.
A church elder said he was sick of vandalism in the area. And a councillor said he was "extremely concerned" about the "incredibly offensive" vandalism.
Westbury Gardens United Refor-med Church, off Audley Range, was targeted as well as the rear of a number of homes that face on to the street.
The vandals struck throughout the Easter weekend and seven swastikas - some as high as three-feet tall - were found daubed on walls off Audley Range.
Derek Estill, a church elder at Westbury Gardens Church, said: "The graffiti may just be mindless stupidity and that is one thing.
"But there is a much more sinister tone and if it is aimed at the Polish community in the area then it is very disturbing."
He said that there had been an issue with graffiti in the area before but there had never been swastikas in the past.
Mr Estill added: "It is not something that we like to see. Graffiti had been sprayed on some of the church buildings but we have been able to clean most of it off already."
Local councillor Tony Humphreys said he had been alarmed to discover the graffiti. He said: "The swastikas are huge and incredibly offensive to anyone who sees them.
"I have been working with the police in the area to try to reduce vandalism and then something like this happens.
"There are real concerns that this could be aimed at the Polish community here which is totally appalling."
Sgt Andy Winter of Blackburn police said: "This sort of thing is completely unacceptable and we will be working with our partners in the local authority to get this graffiti removed as quickly as possible.
"We will prioritise patrols in this area and we are intent on finding those responsible."
Police have appealed for any witnesses to the incidents to come forward.
You can call police on 01254 51212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Your Say YourTelegraph
patrick, blackburn says...
5:29pm Wed 9 Apr 08
james, blackburn says...
12:43pm Mon 7 Apr 08
tony, says...
5:53pm Wed 2 Apr 08
L, blackburn says...
10:55am Mon 31 Mar 08
Shazad, Blackburn says...
12:40pm Sat 29 Mar 08
M, Blackburn says...
12:57am Fri 28 Mar 08
Perhaps the offender should be invited into the church and asked to explain their reason for painting this symbol. At we'd know the truth!
columbo, bbun says...
7:44pm Thu 27 Mar 08
hoodle, yarksha says...
4:46pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Bob, Blackburn says...
4:46pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Preconceptions and prejudice maybe?
GG, NYC says...
2:48pm Thu 27 Mar 08
I doubt the vandals realised this when they drew it though!!
StopWastedLives, Clitheroe says...
2:33pm Thu 27 Mar 08
GG, NYC says...
1:51pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Thank God I no longer live in Blackburn. I made the right choice by emigrating!!
Fred, Blackburn says...
12:10pm Thu 27 Mar 08
oooooooooooooohhhhhh
hhh
gerry, blackburn says...
11:48am Thu 27 Mar 08
Bob, Blackburn says...
11:35am Thu 27 Mar 08
At the risk of revealing a potentially unresolved prejudice towards vertically-challenge
d members of our society, it's got to be the aforementioned "ignorant kids" or a neo- nazi dwarf that done it.
Bob, Blackburn says...
11:21am Thu 27 Mar 08
jcb wrote:"ignorant kids" and jackbooted, suspender wearing, BNP sexual deviants, refereed by a musim cleric, fighting it out on Audley Range?
So which one is it then? "ignorant kids" or "jackbooted, suspender wearing, BNP sexual deviants?" There's only one way to find out, FIGHT!!!!!!!!!
What are the chances of that happening?
dave, blackburn says...
11:17am Thu 27 Mar 08
jcb, says...
9:37am Thu 27 Mar 08
Bob, Blackburn says...
12:44am Thu 27 Mar 08
Also, I think that the Wort auf Deutsch that James was looking for was "untermenschen". Does that use of the German antonym ironically condemn you both as the "ignorant" and "intellectually challenged" that you seek to castigate?
Daubing of any other symbol would have had a null impact other than nuisance grafitti, and there wouldn't have been a story to print to give you an opportunity to subject us to your mindless bilge. The point is that the symbol used is considered offensive to the Polish community, and the question of whether that symbol was daubed by somebody wearing nought but a pair of shiny high-healed boots and a grey military tunic, or the garb of a muslim cleric is mere knee-jerk conjecture. Did you actually see it happen?
Furthermore, what happened when the Taliban demolished the statues of Bhudda in Afghanistan? Wasn't that Muslims attacking the symbols, if not the places, of worship?
And as far your distasteful recommendation of sterilisation for "thick working class Brits", my parents haven't got a CSE or an O-level between them; does that mean I should have been denied the right to live? Have you ever heard of Josef Mengele? Why don't you type that name into Google instead of posting your purile, middle-class, liberal-apologist drivel on here?
A D, Blackburn says...
11:43pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Bob wrote:Some people are just thick. Muslims have never used the swastika as a symbol. And despite all the negativity you may associate with Muslims, they are not known for attacking places of worship.
James wrote:It is far more likely to be members of the Muslim community, who have a lot in common with the Nazis and willingly aided the Nazi regime with pogroms in Eastern Europe in WW2.Ignorant kids?Unlikely, it's far more likely to be ignorant adults, as most children have little idea of Nazism and its symbols. I expect it was some of the intellectually challenged BNP members who infest the area. They tend to have a taste for Nazism, and I understand that many of them have strange sexual fantasies linked to SS uniforms. Ironically, they are exactly the sort of ubermenschen that would have been exterminated in short order by the Nazis, as being sub-human breeding stock.
I have to agree with James here. It is most likely to be members of the BNP. No other community in the country would show such a lack of respect combined with the display of such an aggressive symbol of hate. Yes, a produce of thick working class Brits breeding with more thick working class Brits to exponentially lower the IQ of a whole generation of working class Brits. These people should be sterilised at birth to prevent further degradation of humanity.
Bring on the Polish I say. At least we would see a rise in the average IQ levels across the country.
john, bburn says...
10:02pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Bob, B'burn says...
9:44pm Wed 26 Mar 08
James wrote:It is far more likely to be members of the Muslim community, who have a lot in common with the Nazis and willingly aided the Nazi regime with pogroms in Eastern Europe in WW2.
Ignorant kids?Unlikely, it's far more likely to be ignorant adults, as most children have little idea of Nazism and its symbols. I expect it was some of the intellectually challenged BNP members who infest the area. They tend to have a taste for Nazism, and I understand that many of them have strange sexual fantasies linked to SS uniforms. Ironically, they are exactly the sort of ubermenschen that would have been exterminated in short order by the Nazis, as being sub-human breeding stock.
columbo, bbn says...
8:57pm Wed 26 Mar 08
James, Clitheroe says...
7:38pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Ignorant kids?Unlikely, it's far more likely to be ignorant adults, as most children have little idea of Nazism and its symbols.
I expect it was some of the intellectually challenged BNP members who infest the area. They tend to have a taste for Nazism, and I understand that many of them have strange sexual fantasies linked to SS uniforms.
Ironically, they are exactly the sort of ubermenschen that would have been exterminated in short order by the Nazis, as being sub-human breeding stock.
A D, Blackburn says...
7:14pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Ignorant kids most likely.
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THE GRAFFITI: A passer-by looks at the swastika graffiti in an alleyway at the rear of Audley Range
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patrick, blackburn says...
12:15pm Wed 23 Apr 08