swastika Credit: The swastikas on Sixth Avenue storefronts found Jan. 8 have since been removed./Erik Ortiz
The swastikas scrawled on midtown storefronts were denounced Tuesday by Jewish community leaders and city officials, who said the discovery is part of a "rash of anti-Semitic incidents" in the city.
"This kind of disgusting, distasteful act has no place in New York City," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said at a news conference across from the Sixth Avenue storefronts near Bryant Park.
The four, 12-by-12 inch swastikas were drawn Sunday with white grease paint on the windows of buildings that include a clothing store and bookstore, police said.
Police were reviewing surveillance video of the scene, officials said. Community leaders also said they’re offering a $2,500 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.
Stringer said Sunday’s discovery is one of almost a dozen anti-Semitic incidents in the past three months, including three violent attacks last week against Orthodox Jews in Midwood, Brooklyn, and swastikas written in a Williamsburg building in November.
