A 23-year-old woman has been arrested by police in Châteauguay, Que., a suburb to the southwest of Montreal, and charged with public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred, after several buildings in the city were graffitied with swastikas in recent weeks.
The woman appeared in court in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and was released on a promise to appear at a later date, as well as respect a number of conditions.
In a new release Thursday, Châteauguay Mayor Éric Allard thanked police and municipal staff members, who he said reacted to reports of the graffiti swiftly to both remove it and search for a suspect.
He also thanked residents for sharing information with police.
“It is in such circumstances that we see how united the Châteauguay community is,” Allard said.
The graffiti began to appear about a month ago.
Châteauguay police spokesperson Nadia Grondin said police received dozens of calls in late February and March about swastikas and other forms of hateful graffiti in the city.
Businesses, municipal buildings, municipal infrastructure and buildings housing community groups were all targeted, Grondin said.
