A spate of apparent hate crimes have hit the city and state following the election of Donald Trump.
On Sunday, someone painted a swastika on the sidewalk near the corner of Montgomery Street and Brooklyn Avenue in Crown Heights. An orange traffic cone was later placed on top to cover up the hateful mark.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office later tweeted the image and asked people to report incidents to the NYPD.
“Acts of violence in our beautifully diverse city will not be tolerated,” de Blasio’s office tweeted on Sunday. “We are all better than this.”
The incident follows another over the weekend where swastikas were drawn on the doors of four dorm rooms at The New School.
“We do not accept this illegal, inflammatory and hurtful influence on our campus,” the school’s President David Van Zandt wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “Any attempt to discriminate, instill fear in or intimidate our students will result in serious and swift consequences both from the NYPD and The New School.”
Both swastika incidents are being investigated by the NYPD, a spokesman said. In the city, an act of vandalism would likely result in a criminal mischief charge, authorities said.
“Hate speech is reprehensible, and has no place in NYC,” de Blasio tweeted on Saturday. “To the affected, we stand with you. To the perpetrators, we are better than this.”
Last week, the words “Make America White Again” and a swastika were painted onto a softball field dugout in Wellsville, New York; and a swastika and the word “Trump,” were painted inside a residence hall at SUNY Geneseo. In both cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a multiagency investigation into the incidents.
“To those who think they can intimidate our fellow New Yorkers through racism or anti-Semitism I have one message: Don’t count on it. It is unacceptable that this is the second investigation that we have had to announce in the last several hours,” Cuomo said in a statement on Saturday. “To any New Yorker who is scared, I want you to know that we have your back, that we will keep you safe, and that protecting your rights is what America stands for.”
And in the Bronx, a rider on the No. 5 train was attacked on Friday for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, according to the New York Daily News. The suspect apparently asked the victim if he was a Trump supporter and when he said yes, the suspect tried to choke him.
De Blasio on Saturday tweeted out a link to the story and said: “violence is never the answer.”
