The Australian War Memorial has been allegedly defaced with pro-Palestine graffiti, ACT police have said.
The police said a man allegedly graffitied three areas on the outside of the Canberra building and on the ground in a publicly accessible area about 1am on Friday morning. Police would not say what the graffiti said, only that it was “pro-Palestine slogans”.
Matt Anderson, the director of the Australian War Memorial, said vandalising the War Memorial was “inappropriate and offensive”.
“The memorial’s purpose is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war or on operational service,” he said.
Acting Insp Lisa Broomhall said ACT police were investigating. “We’re very disappointed to see that a national institution in Canberra, which holds a very significant place to many of us in Australia, has been vandalised,” she said.
“We just like to remind the community that while peaceful protest is part of our community and our democracy, any criminal acts are not going to be tolerated by police.”
It comes after Labor MP offices around the country were targeted by pro-Palestine protests and graffiti two weeks ago.
A number of Labor MPs’ offices – including those of Mark Dreyfus, Bill Shorten and Andrew Giles – were splashed with red paint, while others had “death to Labor” graffitied on their offices.
