Police are investigating racist and anti-Semitic vandalism in Swanton.
Vermont State Police reported receiving multiple calls Thursday about vandalism on a paved portion of a recreation path in Swanton closest to the Robin Hood Drive intersection.
Racist, anti-Semitic and hate speech had been scraped and carved into a mural painted on the path’s surface. The mural had been painted as a way to cover up previous vandalism, state police said in a news release Friday.
In addition, according to the release, Swanton Village Police received a vandalism report at the elementary school, which is near the vandalism on the recreation path.
Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, referred questions Friday about the vandalism at the elementary school to the Swanton Village Police, the agency handling that case. Swanton police transferred a call seeking comment on that case to Silverman.
State police informed the Attorney General’s Office of the vandalism under the Bias Incident Reporting System.
Last summer, VTDigger reported the public art walls in Swanton were removed after they became the source of conflict, with one group’s painted messages of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement repeatedly painted over by other residents.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call state police in St. Albans at 802-524-5993.