SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese on Monday condemned vandalism of the U.S. consulate in Sydney after the constructing was defaced in what native media stated seemed to be a pro-Palestinian protest.
The constructing within the northern suburbs of Australia’s largest metropolis was attacked and sprayed with paint by an individual carrying a small sledgehammer at round 3 a.m. native time on Monday, New South Wales police stated.
“I would just say that people should have respectful political debate and discourse,” Albanese stated in a televised media convention from Canberra when requested concerning the incident.
“Measures such as painting the U.S. Consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is of course a crime to damage property,” he added.
9 home windows of the consulate had been broken and the constructing’s door was graffitied, police stated.
“CCTV has been sourced that shows a person wearing a dark coloured hoodie with their face obscured carrying what appears to be a small sledgehammer,” a police spokesperson advised Reuters by cellphone.
Images of the consulate on the web site of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper confirmed inverted crimson triangles sprayed on the constructing’s entrance. The image is utilized by some pro-Palestinian activists, it reported.
The identical constructing was sprayed with graffiti in April, whereas the U.S. consulate in Melbourne was graffitied by pro-Palestine activists in Could, in line with the newspaper.
Lengthy a stalwart ally of Israel, Australia has develop into more and more crucial of its conduct in Gaza, the place an Australian assist employee was killed in an Israeli assault earlier this yr.
Final month, camps sprang up at universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and different Australian cities protesting Israel’s struggle in Gaza and claiming the Australian authorities has not completed sufficient to push for peace.
