CROWN HEIGHTS — Police are investigating a swastika drawn on a residential street that's home to many Jewish families, then later crossed out by a self-proclaimed "anarchist" on Sunday morning.
The Nazi symbol was found on Montgomery Street near Brooklyn Avenue about 7 a.m., sprayed onto a sidewalk with white paint, the NYPD said.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force was notified of the vandalism and is investigating the incident, police sources said.
The swastika is located in the “heart” of the Lubavitch Jewish community in Crown Heights, said Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, who photographed the graffiti Sunday morning.
BREAKING: Swastika spray painted on Montgomery St in heart of Jewish Crown Heights. Note: This is not a first here (h/t @HirshelTzig ) pic.twitter.com/u6RAMY4NRn
— Mordechai Lightstone (@Mottel) November 13, 2016
The graffiti was quickly covered by a traffic cone, according to a first report by the New York Daily News.
Later in the afternoon, Twitter user @AngryMarxistJew — a self-proclaimed “CopWatcher,” anarchist and comedian — tagged over the symbol, replying to Lightstone with a video of the act and a warning: “Nazi scum be afraid.”
.@Mottel we fixed it. Nazi scum be afraid, NYC Antifa has everyone's back. @JewishAntifa @NYCAntifa pic.twitter.com/ML9b9jJZWs
— Donut (@AngryMarxistJew) November 13, 2016
This is not the first time swastikas or anti-Semitic graffiti have appeared in the neighborhood. In the past three years, police have investigated at least five instances of such vandalism — in two separate apartment building stairwells, on a parking sign, on a sidewalk and in an alley.
As of Sunday night, no suspects have been identified in the Montgomery Street incident and no arrests have yet been made, police said.
