Pleasant Heights school 'tagged' with Nazi graffiti

By Ben Langford
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:26am, first published September 7 2011 - 11:17am
Children at Pleasant Heights primary arrived last Monday to find white supremacist graffiti on school walls, doors and bubblers.
Children at Pleasant Heights primary arrived last Monday to find white supremacist graffiti on school walls, doors and bubblers.

An Illawarra primary school has been vandalised with Nazi messages and the insignia of a violent international fascist group.Children at Pleasant Heights primary arrived on Monday to find swastikas and Nazi slogans spray-painted on walls, doors and even drinking water bubblers."Heil Hitler" was painted on one wall, with insignia of white supremacist group Combat 18.Horrified parents say the school was hit because it was a soft target and want to know what happened to a promise to build a security fence around the school.Pleasant Heights Parents and Citizens association president Hamish Davidson said there was nothing to stop vandals getting in."My son came home on Monday afternoon telling me about it and asking what these things mean," he said."Obviously it's a real worry when that sort of stuff has been sprayed around a primary school where young kids can be influenced by what they see."Unfortunately the Education Department has had a look at the requirement for the fence, and shuffled our school to the bottom of the list, under the belief that this area is not susceptible to that kind of behaviour."The fence was promised by then-education minister Verity Firth on a visit to Wollongong in February. It has dropped off the agenda under the Liberal Government. An Education Department spokeswoman yesterday said no fence was planned but a "risk assessment" would be done."There are currently no plans to install a security fence at Pleasant Heights Public School," she said."In response to the weekend incident, a security risk assessment of the school will be conducted by the department to identify risk minimisation strategies that can be implemented."The matter was reported to the police assistance line on Monday but police have not yet attended the school.Yesterday, Wollongong Crime Manager Tim Beattie said he would send officers there."We'll investigate it," he said."Police are keen to hear from anyone with information about this."Detective Inspector Beattie could not comment on whether the Combat 18 group may be setting up in Wollongong.Combat 18 is a white supremacist group linked to soccer hooligans and members of the armed forces in the UK and Europe. It appears to have spread to Australia and last year, two alleged members faced court over a shooting at a Perth mosque.The 18 in the name represents Adolf Hitler - with the numbers representing A as the first letter of the alphabet, H the eighth.The graffiti included a crest of crossed rifles surrounded by a laurel wreath, similar to a homemade version of a military badge.It was painted from a stencil, indicating it may have been the work of sophisticated vandals, not young taggers.

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