Swastikas painted on vehicle
Vandalism: Officer says use of Nazi symbol likely means a hate crime charge
Published Tuesday July 27th, 2010
SAINT JOHN - When they threw rocks at her home's windows, it was a nuisance.Then, it was eggs and toilet paper all over her Dufferin Row property. Last month, it was garbage, poured all over the lawn and over the car.
But what happened this past weekend brings Margret Begner to tears.
Light-purple coloured paint was poured all over her vehicle, and in blue spray paint, someone drew the Nazi swastika on the windshield and driver's door.
"What was really hurting was that they put the Nazi sign," Begner said Monday. "That just takes it over the top."
At first Begner thought the vandals had a personal vendetta against her family. But she has recently heard other people in the west side neighbourhood have also been targets of vandalism.
A neighbour on St. John Street has told Begner she doesn't sleep at night, and a Portuguese family on Fundy Drive moved away because they couldn't handle it anymore.
"It's just hate. They hate everything. They hate themselves and they hate their neighbours," Begner said of the vandals. She owns a restaurant uptown and her family has lived in Saint John for 18 years, since moving here from Germany.
Begner isn't sure if the perpetrators have something against different cultures or backgrounds.
"I think they're just against anything and everything they don't have and don't get," she said. "They don't respect private property. They have zero tolerance, zero respect."
Police say Begner wasn't the only person targeted with the Nazi markings early Saturday morning.
The Assumption Centre on Chapel Street, next to Our Lady of the Assumption Church, was also marked with the swastika, said Sgt. Pat Bonner of the Saint John Police Force.
In that case, the green spray paint was used.
"They could be related," he said.
Painting a swastika makes the crime more than just mischief, he said. It would likely result in a charge of public incitement of hatred - or a hate crime.
"That's definitely a hate crime when you put something like that - a Nazi symbol," he said. "Not only is it vandalism - it's a message."
Begner said she has installed security cameras at her home and won't give up hope until the vandalism stops.
"I know we will get them, if I have to sit on my porch every single night," she said. "If that is something it will take, I will do that."
She said she's run out of reasons for why someone would continue to terrorize her neighbourhood.
But it doesn't affect the way she feels about the city.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you live. There are people who will have different opinions and ways of dealing with things," she said.
While she waited for her insurance adjuster to examine the damage, a flood of neighbours saw the symbol and called her to say how shameful and unacceptable it was.
"They took this one too far," she said.
Our readers have been incredible when it comes to tracking down information leading to identification of suspects in cases such as this. We're asking our readers to help out on this one as well.
9 comments:
It must be made clear NO WHITE NATIONALIST in the area did this. It is purely the act of some idiots who were looking for what they thought would terrorize the victim the most.
agreed petty acts like this only make us look bad
Maybe?
Maybe not?
We accept the chance it could be a bunch of punks who are aware of how hateful the modern version of the swastika is and have used it to terrorize and intimidate people.
But to say it can't be a, "White Nationalist" because it's a petty act that make you all look bad sort of flies in the face of the evidence we post here on this blog. We needn't remind you of the antics of the Aryan Guard or the likes of Richard Martin, do we?
and just because certain groups within the movement choose to be idiots about how they choose to do things does NOT mean we all work the same way and if we say no white nationalist had anything to do with this it would be a safe bet to take our word on it , we know who each other are and know what we do a lot more then you would stick to the idiots out west where you know what your talking about
makes you look bad? is there anything white supremacists do that DOESN'T make them look bad? if it looks like shit, and smells like shit, what exactly do you think it is?!
"agreed petty acts like this only make us look bad"
As if you don't look bad based on your beliefs alone. Lol.
Hint: look to Moncton. When Chinese students were being beaten back in 2007 it turned out to be Moncton-based boneheads who were responsible. They were making the trips to Saint John, engaging in violence, then retreating. It wouldn't be a surprise if they were behind this rash of crimes as well.
@ Anonymous 3:
So there is no connection between all the boneheads in Moncton and the Nazi/racist graffiti that is continuously left around that city and has been for years? And Moncton is just SOOOO far from Saint John, right? So the boneheads in Moncton and the boneheads from SJ can't possibly know each other, or use the same tactics, or have any connection at all. So we should just take your word for it and believe you, Anonymous Bonehead, when you say that you would know if a WN did this.
St. John remembers when three boneheads attacked Chinese students with baseball bats.(http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=f3b7dbc5-a6d0-4553-872c-3aed9de90a11&k=80416)
And Moncton remembers all of the violence, intimidation and hate-mongering WNs have been responsible for there, too. So perhaps you ought to consider that more is known about you creeps out East than you think. No amount of distancing can erase the fact that overwhelmingly, people here think you are scum.
uk anti nazis
http://ailmuk.blogspot.com/
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