Italian police were today investigating incidents in Padua in northern Italy where a memorial stone to Nazi victims on the facade of a synagogue in that city was found smeared. The walls of a building in which the president of the Padua Jewish community lives were also found smeared with swastikas and slogans hailing Mussolini and Fascism.
The incidents occurred shortly after a ceremony was held at the synagogue in which civic leaders and members of the Jewish community laid wreaths at the memorial stone marking the struggle by resistance fighters against the Nazis.
The Union of Italian Jewish Communities has been notified of the incidents. Leaders of the Union are in contact with police authorities in Padua who have taken steps to protect the synagogue building.
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