SCARRED BY NAZI HATE
Police alerted over racist code find
Hate symbols favoured by white supremacists were carved into a tree at a popular dog-walking spot.
The swastika and code number 1488 scratched into bark were spotted by Perth minister Scott Burton as he exercised his dog Maddison at Waulkmill, near Stormontfield.
The minister of St Matthew’s in Perth was disgusted and “deeply disappointed”, saying the crude graffiti was of a calculated, repugnant nature.
“Furious is an understatement,” he said.
“I walk my dog there all the time and was really upset to see this. I didn’t know what it meant at first but it turns out to be a specific hate symbol, linked to white supremacist ideology.”
The figure 1488 is the combination of two common white supremacist numeric symbols. 14 is shorthand for a racist 14 Words slogan and 88 stands for “Heil Hitler”, H being the eighth letter of the alphabet.
The minister believes the damage is a sign that there is a radicalised element in Perth.
He immediately reported his discovery on Thursday to the police.
His message was a passionate plea for tolerance and unity ahead of a planned September 10 march by a group linked to the Scottish Defence League, opposed to plans to build a new mosque in Perth.
Rev Burton said: “It begs the question: ‘is white supremacism alive and well in our own neighbourhood here, as well as elsewhere around the globe?’
“Who knows if this is an isolated act of vandalism from one individual or something more organised in a larger group.
“But whatever it is our collective response as a Christian community surely must be to stand out in complete opposition to any notion that one race is superior to another within the one, God-breathed, family of humanity.”
Rev Burton has allowed funerals of all faiths at St Matthew’s while Perth Crematorium has been closed this summer. He has taken criticism for allowing the church on Tay Street to be used by any bereaved family of any faith or none.
In a call for unity against acts which harm society and permit hate to flourish, the Perth cleric ended: “Our words matter. Our actions matter.
“Particularly those of us with white faces must be seen to speak of love, inclusion, acceptance and respect for others who may be the same as or may be different from who we happen to be.
“Let us walk arm in arm with brothers and sisters of all colours and creeds that love will trump hate.”
Having seen Rev Burton’s outraged Facebook post, some on social media advised cutting down the tree or changing the graffiti to something more positive.
A fellow churchman from Charleston, South Carolina , Rev Holton Siegling, posted his own version of what could be done.
Rev Siegling superimposed colourful flowers and wrote ‘Love’ over the swastika.
Other suggestions were to arrange a ‘yarn bomber’ to cover the defacement with wool art.