Antisemitic graffiti was found near Bethesda Elementary School in Maryland on Sunday, according to Montgomery County police.
The Bethesda Central Farm Market takes place at the school every Sunday. Families who came out to enjoy the year-round farmers market noticed the vulgar graffiti outside the school as they walked up to the school on Aug. 11.
In addition to the graffiti along the school's sign, there was also graffiti on the sidewalk.
“To have such graphic, hateful speech at that particular location is despicable,” Guila Franklin Siegal, chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said.
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Montgomery County police were called to the school about reports of vandalism and hate speech plastered around the property.
The incident happened overnight into Sunday, according to police. The person or people responsible for the incident spray-painted antisemitic phrases in the school's parking lot and at a nearby building.
Community members came together to scrub away the graffiti from the school sign and other areas around the school on Sunday morning.
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“Unfortunately, we have seen skyrocketing in anti-semitism nationally and locally,” Franklin Siegal said.
Franklin Siegal said in a statement that with school starting in two weeks and Jewish High Holidays coming up, local leaders and law enforcement should “make it clear that hateful ideologies of any kind have no place in our communities.”
Police are still investigating this incident.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
