NAZI graffiti has been daubed all over a recently-unveiled memorial to 14 victims executed by the far-right regime of General Francisco Franco.
Quart de Poblet City Council is analysing security camera footage to discover the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators.
The vandalism was discovered on Sunday- after the sculpture was unveiled in a ceremony on October 5 in the Valencia province town.
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The council said the graffiti and symbols plastered on the work were ‘Nazi’ but there was no indication as who was behind it.
Black paint was used on the statue and its pedestal with the inscriptions ‘Spain’ and ‘No Reds’ along with Celtic crosses which are associated with neo-Nazi groups.
The memorial is situated in Plaza Valldecabres and honours 14 local residents executed by Franco’s henchmen between 1939 and 1942.
The sculpture was created by local artist Miguel Borrego and the unveiling was attended by relatives of the victims and Quart de Poblet mayor, Cristina Mora.
A plaque was also erected with the name of the 14 people honoured along with a phone QR code providing a link to their biographies and the stories behind their executions.
The aim was to make historical access easier in a grim period of local history.
In a statement, Quart de Poblet council said: “Neither hatred nor incivility will ever erase the memory, nor this City Council’s commitment to democratic memory.”
It also described the vandalism as ‘intolerable’ and pledged to take appropriate action against those responsible.
Representatives of the Partido Popular and the PSOE Socialists roundly condemned the attack, describing it as ‘cowardly’.
No arrests have so far been made.
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