Multiple antisemitic incidents discovered at parks across the Town of Hempstead
Town and county officials said they are working together to find the people responsible and hold them accountable.
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Officials are investigating after multiple incidents of antisemitism were discovered across parts of the Town of Hempstead.
Workers closing Rath Park in Franklin Square at around 6 p.m. on Thursday found several swastikas graffitied on several walls.
Town officials moved quickly to cover them up with cardboard.
Town officials discovered additional swastikas on the playground at Coes Neck Park in Baldwin on Friday afternoon.
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is treating the incidents as a hate crime.
"We have to get the message out that this has to stop," explained District Attorney Anne Donnelly
"We're going to work together not to only eliminate it here but to hold people accountable and demonstrate to others that we have zero tolerance," added Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin.
Several Franklin Square residents passing by Rath Park Friday morning said they were outraged by the acts of hate.
"It's very upsetting because it's the kind of community where we don't see things like this, we don't realize this is going on and we're wondering who does this," one woman said.
"I'd like to think that some outside group just had nothing to do and they came to our community overnight because I can't believe, knowing the people in Franklin Square, that they would ever do anything like that," said Franklin Square resident Julie Soffientini.
Clavin, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly and other town officials cleaned up at hateful graffiti at Rath Park on Friday.
