Two Teenagers Arrested for Defacing Jewish Cemetery in England
Two teenagers have been arrested for vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in Manchester, England.
Gravestones in the Rochdale Road cemetery were painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti, and about 40 were toppled in last week’s attack. The damage is estimated at more than $170,000, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
The two 13-year-old boys were arrested Friday, on suspicion of committing a racially aggravated public order offense. They were released on bail until July 25, as the investigation continues.
A similar attack occurred earlier this month, according to the Manchester Evening News.
“The vandalism of a gravestone is, in itself, a sickening act, but to violate the memory of those resting in the cemetery still further by daubing racial slurs on the graves is truly repulsive,” Inspector Mike Reid of the Greater Manchester Police told the Manchester Evening News.
On Sunday, more than 100 residents of Manchester, including Muslims, Christians and volunteers from Greater Manchester Police, volunteered to help clean up the cemetery, including removing garbage and debris.
The families of the damaged headstones are responsible for paying for their repair, according to the newspaper.
Extra security patrols have been added in the area, according to police.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
