A ‘sickening’ and ‘abhorrent’ attack has left fourteen headstones smashed in a Jewish cemetery in Manchester.
Police officers were called out to Blackley Jewish Cemetery on Rochdale Road, Charlestown, on Wednesday afternoon at around 3:45pm after reports of damage to a number of graves.
After entering the graveyard, the full scale of the damage was clear to see.
Chief Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry from Greater Manchester Police said: “This is a sickening act of criminal damage which we are taking very seriously.
“I believe this was a deliberate and targeted attack and there is no place for such abhorrent behaviour in our communities.
“This has been recorded as a hate crime because of the clear racial motivation and, should we find those who committed this cowardly act, it will allow the courts to impose even harsher punishments.
“We will do everything we can to find out who is responsible and bring the full force of the law down on them.
“To have those graves desecrated in such a disgusting and disrespectful way will no doubt cause immeasurable anguish to the families and loved ones affected.”
The latest attack is one of many recent attacks on Jewish resting places in recent years, and comes nearly two years after 40 graves were damaged on June 16 2014, when Nazi swastikas were daubed on gravestones in the same cemetery.
Last year, it was reported that hate crimes towards Jewish communities in the Greater Manchester had increased by 80 percent over the previous year.
Chief Superintendent Chaudhry said: “Ultimately the people of Greater Manchester need to stand together and say no to hatred of this kind which seeks to divide and cause distress in our communities.
“Someone will know who is responsible and I would urge those people to do the right thing and speak to us in confidence.”
Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 3521, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
