Thirteen swastikas were found in Buena Vista Park in San Francisco on the morning of April 15.
Max Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, who had members of his family die during the Holocaust, discovered the swastikas while he was walking his dog with his wife.
Extremely disturbing that someone painted swastikas all around the pedestrian walkway on Buena Vista Park @SF311 pic.twitter.com/02XJjJLjfD
— Maxwell Szabo (@maxxszabo) April 15, 2019
— Maxwell Szabo (@maxxszabo) April 15, 2019
Szabo told the San Francisco Chronicle that it was “chilling” to see the swastikas.
“It’s truly the ultimate symbol of evil,” Szabo told KTVU. “So, for somebody to destroy a park – a public park – with that symbol just has no place here.”
Park officials later painted over the swastikas:
#HappeningNow park officials painting over swastikas someone painted all over Buena Vista Park in #SF pic.twitter.com/Xk9pgARlyu
— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) April 15, 2019
Park employees tell me the paint is still wet. That it’s oil based. They are working so quickly to paint over swastikas painted all over Buena Vista Park in SF. @maxxszabo tweeted pics and notified 311 this morning pic.twitter.com/Jc2WCyYIsf
— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) April 15, 2019
Madison Sink, a spokesperson for San Francisco’s Parks and Recreation department, told NBC Bay Area, “Our parks are places of peace and respite, and vile symbols of anti-Semitism and hate have no place there – or anywhere in civilized society.”
Police are currently investigating the matter.