RAEL’S COMMENT:
We must send this mayor our support!
A Canadian town says it will not remove swastikas from a public park because it has historical significance.
The Nazi symbols adorn an anchor that was on display in Pointe-des-Cascades, Quebec.
Corey Fleischer, who goes around Montreal removing hateful graffiti, tried to paint over the swastikas.
But the mayor stopped him and had police remove him from the park, arguing the anchor is a part of local history.
The anchor has a plaque that identifies it as a “relic of Nazism”, and says it was used in Europe at the end of War, probably on a merchant boat, and found in 1980.
But in a statement on the town’s website, the mayor says the anchor belonged to a merchant vessel that predates World War Two and was found by local divers 25 years ago.
“The village of Pointe-des-Cascades does not endorse Nazism,” said Mayor Gilles Santerre in a statement online.
“Our village has a beautiful community and family spirit, and creates events that bring people together.”
The village has about 1,500 people and is located about 50 miles (80km) from Montreal.
The statement cites an article by Radio Canada, which says that before 1920 the swastika was a symbol of peace.
Online sleuths have speculated that the anchor could have been made by the British manufacturer WL Byers in Sunderland, England.
The anchors were adorned with a swastika as a good luck charm, it is claimed, before the rise of Hitler.
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