Police are investigating a spate of vandalism at a Jewish cemetery as hate crimes, after the most recent incident saw 30 headstones desecrated.
Urmston Jewish Cemetery in Greater Manchester was hit by two separate incidents of criminal damage last month and the latest damage, reported to police on Sunday, saw multiple headstones knocked over, with many of them smashed.
Joanne Harding, a local councillor, visited the cemetery on Tuesday and said there was “thousands of pounds worth of damage”.
Just been to inspect Urmston Jewish Cemetery with care taker. Imagine going to see your relatives graves and find it trashed and disrespected . Thousands of pounds worth of damage . Meeting police to review security . ( they were happy for me to share pictures to raise awareness) pic.twitter.com/AheWul1c0u
— (((Joanne Harding))) (@Joanne13Harding) June 12, 2018
“Imagine going to see your relatives graves and find it trashed and disrespected,” she tweeted, adding that she was “meeting police to review security".
In the two previous incidents of vandalism last month, 22 gravestones were destroyed.
Greater Manchester Police told the JC that the cases “are being treated as hate incidents".
“No arrests have been made. Officers are investigating CCTV footage to identify offenders and patrols in the area have been increased,” a spokesperson said.
