A Kenyan-born family has been left scarred and traumatised after a swastika was carved into the front door of their Cranbourne home.
The Anti-Defamation Commission and Cranbourne police were informed of the vandalism that took place last Monday.
The victim and her partner are so terrified that they are considering moving out of the house for fear that the perpetrators will return.
The young woman said, “It’s scary to come home and to find this symbol of hate on our doorstep. It was obviously directed at us.”
Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, spoke to the victims and assured them of the ADC’s support.
“Once again, this evil symbol of genocide and murder has been weaponised by home-grown neo-Nazis to intimate and sow fear in the hearts of residents, and we condemn this abhorrent act in the strongest possible terms,” Dr Abramovich said.
“It seems that Hitler’s ideology is finding new followers in Melbourne, individuals with malicious intent, who are determined to keep this monster’s legacy alive.
This calculated hate crime is a direct attack on every Victorian and an affront to our shared values of respect and tolerance for people of all faiths and ethnicities.
It is especially disturbing that this attack occurred amid an atmosphere of elevated racism against minorities.
I am deeply dismayed and alarmed by the rash of swastika vandalism that we have seen across the country in recent months, which is a grave cause for concern.
When such troubling episodes take place, they violate everyone’s sense of safety and send the message to the victim’s community that they are not welcome.
These incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent in our city and deserve an urgent response by our law enforcement agencies and government.”