
A massive swastika that was carved into the grass of a soccer field in the north area of Melbourne, Australia has sparked outrage.
The symbol, which was drawn in the grass with chemicals, had still not been removed weeks after the Melbourne council city was informed about it, according to 9News.
The antisemitic symbol in the grass of Morrison Reserve at Mt Evelyn, where junior soccer teams train and compete, was found by the grandson of a Holocaust survivor who was on a helicopter ride.
"My grandfather is the sole survivor of his family," the man told the news outlet. “To see it at that sort of scale is pretty horrifying… It's concerning as how does something like that take place?”
"How is there no immediate action?” he added.
The large swastika is visible from the ground and from the air. The symbol has been there for over a month, according to local reports.
Anti-defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich described the vandalism to 9News as “a reminder that we need to legislate as quickly as possible the law against the public displays of the Nazi swastika.”
Antisemitic incidents of this nature have become more frequent in the city in recent years.
In late February, a large wooden swastika was discovered in the backyard of a house in the main Jewish area of Melbourne, with the Jewish community shocked that there were no legal means to have it removed or charge whoever was behind it.
The swastika was discovered by a man who is the son of a Holocaust survivor in back of a house in Caulfield, a neighborhood that is 41 percent Jewish, NCA reported.
While the Victoria government said in 2021 that it would ban public displays of Nazi symbols – part of a comprehensive package of reforms designed to eliminate “hateful behavior” and discrimination based on race, religion, orientation, illness, or disability, including a recent rise in neo-Nazi activity – the legislation has so far not been enacted.