Concord police are investigating racist and antisemitic graffiti on the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, which was vandalized sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning.
Both the notice boards and the paved path were marked with references to Nazism, Hitler, Zionism, white power and the n-word. Another marking said “Wake Up NH” with two S’s beneath NH.
Parks and recreation employees found the graffiti around 9 a.m. on Monday morning, and Director David Gill immediately reported the incident to police, he said in an email.
Interim Police Chief Barrett Moulton said the act of vandalism is still under investigation as of Wednesday afternoon. Moulton was not aware of recent similar incidents around the state, such as The Moka Pot in Manchester having windows broken and “White Power” with a swastika written on its walls on Tuesday night, or if they are connected to the incident in Concord.
“I know our detectives are working on this. They went down there and gathered information, took some some photos,” Moulton said about the vandalism on the Merrimack River Greenway Trail.
The signs were taken down and the pavement was painted over to cover up the graffiti. Gill said staff spent over four hours cleaning the site, and it could result in a couple thousand dollars to pay for new signs and paint.
Moulton added that the city is looking at another incident of tagging in Concord that occurred last week.