Multiple cars in Canada were just spray-painted with racist graffiti
Approximately 11 vehicles were spray-painted with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti in Edmonton on Thursday, with anonymous vandals painting swastikas, curse words and other hateful language on the cars.
Karla Vasquez-Oteiza said she and her partner were out walking their dog around 1:30 a.m. in a business area when they happened upon the spray-painted vehicles. They came across two vehicles first.
"I couldn't believe it," she told Freshdaily, adding that they called the police right away.
Took our dog for a walk in Chappelle #YEG late tonight and we discovered that a bunch of vehicles (including ours) had been vandalized with spray paint. What the hell?? @ctvedmonton @GlobalEdmonton @CityofEdmonton @edmontonpolice pic.twitter.com/B2RU0OiElF
— K 🏳️🌈🇨🇱🇨🇦 (@PlutoBeanie) July 9, 2020
After Vasquez-Oteiza gave the police the vehicles' license plate details, she and her partner continued walking, which is when they spotted about eight or nine more vehicles that had been vandalized — including their own.
"It definitely was disheartening to see," she said.
Although Vasquez-Oteiza and her partner phoned the police back immediately after to report the additional vandalized cars, they were told police wouldn't be available to check out the vehicles until the morning since they were having a busy night.
Vasquez-Oteiza said she and her partner had purchased their vehicle about two weeks prior to the incident.
She added that the graffiti was "only on the windows" of their car, and they managed to get it off with rubbing alcohol.
Our vehicle luckily only had a swastika on the window and did not get prayed everywhere. We managed to get it off with rubbing alcohol. I really appreciate your offer though, this is awesome!
— K 🏳️🌈🇨🇱🇨🇦 (@PlutoBeanie) July 9, 2020
Although Vasquez-Oteiza describes herself as a Person Of Colour, she says she doesn't believe the attack was targeted.
It seemed pretty random (they only got the vehicles that weren’t directly in front of a house) but I am a minority myself and I know that a lot of different minorities live in this neighbourhood. It’s why I love it so this sucks!
— K 🏳️🌈🇨🇱🇨🇦 (@PlutoBeanie) July 9, 2020
Multiple Canadians have reached out to Vasquez-Oteiza on social media following the incident to express their support, including the leader of Alberta's NDP, Rachel Notley.
"This is completely unacceptable," Notley wrote on Thursday. "I'm so sorry this happened to you and your neighbours!"
Edmonton police have yet to issue any statement on the vandalized vehicles.
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