Swastika graffiti outside London railway station left visible by Islington Council for days, opposite primary school

Islington Council has described a swastika graffitied outside Drayton Park Railway Station as “extremely offensive”. The graffiti was found sprayed onto a wall outside the station on Sunday last week and left there until Wednesday before being finally removed. In addition to the swastika, which was drawn the wrong way around, Nazi Germany’s iron cross was also found on another wall.

A Jewish man who reported the graffiti told the Islington Gazette: “I take no notice of it personally. There are so many bigger fish to fry in this world. But this is a hate crime and Nazi symbols shouldn’t be in the streets, across the road from a primary school, for three days.”

When asked why it took them so long to remove the graffiti, which is directly opposite a primary school, Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz told the Islington Gazette: “We condemn all forms of hate crime, and are appalled at this extremely offensive and hateful graffiti. A team was sent to remove this graffiti as soon as it was reported to them, and we thank the Twitter user who brought this to our attention. We urge residents who see graffiti of this kind to report it to police as a hate crime. If residents also report hateful graffiti to the council we will remove it as soon as possible.”

The Metropolitan Police Service is also investigating the hate crime.