Nazi and Anti-Trump Graffiti Appear on Structures Across US Amid Protests
— -- Reports of anti-Trump and even Nazi graffiti have emerged after tens of thousands of demonstrators in cities across the country took to the streets Wednesday night to protest President-elect Donald Trump's unexpected victory.
On Wednesday morning, just hours after Trump was declared the 45th president of the United States, the emblem of the Nazi Party was found spray-painted on the glass window of a building in South Philadelphia. The graffiti also included the words "Seig Heil 2016" as well as the word "Trump" with the T replaced by another swastika, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
The investigation is ongoing and police did not say whether the vandalism is being investigated as a hate crime.
The incident occurred on the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when Jewish-owned businesses and buildings were attacked and destroyed across Nazi Germany. The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in New York City, released a statement Wednesday expressing horror at the "hate graffiti."
“We are horrified by the appearance of hate graffiti on a storefront in South Philadelphia,” said Nancy K. Baron-Baer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. “Swastikas and the Nazi salute send a message of intolerance and hate to the entire community. The fact that today is the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht adds another layer to this already sickening act.”
The graffiti appeared just hours before about 700 demonstrators marched through downtown Philadelphia Wednesday night to protest Trump's election win, police said. Graffiti also appeared in other cities where anti-Trump protests were taking place.
In Virginia, hundreds of protesters shut down several streets in Richmond, where several Civil War and Confederate monuments were defaced with graffiti. The words "Your Vote Was a Hate Crime" were spray-painted on the Jefferson Davis monument and the Matthew Fontaine Maury statue, while the words "F--- Trump, F--- KKK" were found on the Robert E. Lee monument, according to local ABC affiliate WRIC. Donald Trump disavowed David Duke’s support of his candidacy earlier this year, and last week, his campaign issued a statement that he “denounces hate in any form” while also disavowing support by a major Ku Klux Klan newspaper.
In North Carolina, graffiti that read "Black Lives Don't Matter and Neither Does Your Votes" appeared on Main Street in Durham on Wednesday night. Residents told ABC News that similar vandalism was found in other areas as well.
In Nevada, police said the State Capitol in Lincoln was defaced with graffiti overnight or during the early morning hours. Phrases including "Trump = Racism" were spray-painted on walls on the north side of the building. Police are reviewing security camera footage in an effort to identify those responsible, according to local ABC affiliate KETV.
And in California, protesters were seen spray-painting buildings and vans with anti-Trump slogans in downtown Los Angeles. Police arrested 13 people in the city after protesters blocked traffic on the 101 freeway late Wednesday, according to local ABC-owned station KABC.
Meanwhile, widespread graffiti appeared on the walls of business and structures in downtown Oakland where about 7,000 people gathered to protest on Wednesday night. As a result of the protests, the Oakland Police Department said it made 30 arrests and issued 11 citations for crimes including assault on an officer, vandalism, unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and possession of a firearm.
ABC News' Dee Carden, Matt Foster, Kevin Kraus, MaryAlice Parks and Rex Sakamoto contributed to this report.
