Police are currently reviewing CCTV footage in an effort to find those responsible for racist graffiti painted on the Bondi Beach sea wall yesterday, Waverley Mayor John Wakefield says.
Mr Wakefield said the area was surveilled and footage had been handed over to detectives, but did not want to be drawn on whether more cameras were needed along the promenade, telling The Wentworth Courier: “the area is surveilled”.
His comments come after the swastikas and phrases “white power” and “we hate niggas” were found painted across several murals yesterday morning.
Liberal Waverley councillor Leon Goltsman, who was alerted to the disturbing find by a jogger, called for extra measures to prevent any future “copycats”.
“One of the things I have had on the agenda for the next council meeting is a CCTV motion, I want to get that up at the next meeting,” he said.
“We need to have surveillance and better surveillance … we need to have an effective method of surveilling (the area).”
Yesterday’s vandalism comes after a similar incident in February, when about 20 swastikas were spray-painted on parts of the mural.
The graffiti was removed within an hour of council being notified yesterday and it is understood council will now seek help from the original artist to restore the murals that were defaced.
Chief executive of the Jewish Board of Deputies Vic Alhadeff yesterday condemned the racist graffiti.
Read the article by Anton Rose (Wentworth Courier) in The Daily Telegraph.