Synagogue in south Ottawa holds solidarity event in wake of racist graffiti

TheMachzikeiHadasSynagogue in south Ottawa is hosting a solidarity event on Saturday morning in the wake of a handful of racist incidents in the city.

A mosque and a church where the pastor is black were spray-painted with racist graffiti this week followingthree instances ofanti-Semitic graffiti invarious locations throughout Ottawa. Mosque officials told CBC News they have handedsurveillancevideo of the vandalism, done at 2:09 a.m. on Friday, over to police.

• Racist graffiti spray-painted on Parkdale United Church, Ottawa Muslim Association
• Anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on Machzikei HadasSynagogue

Premier KathleenWynne, OttawaMayor Jim Watson andOntario's Attorney GeneralYasirNaqviwill be on hand at the event, along with the city's police chief and several religious figures.

Video evidence sought

The Ottawa policehate crimes unit is investigating the racist actsand looking into whether they arelinked.

"It's certainly a possibility, at least with thefirst three. That's one of the working theories," saidInsp. MikeLaviolette. "There's similar fact evidence."

Laviolette said police are also examining video footage they obtained to help identify the culprits. "It's rare today that you can go anywhere in this city that you're not on camera somewhere," he said.

"Whether it's a commercial business that has video surveillance or a place of worshipin and around their buildings or traffic cameras we have a lot of resources at our disposal and we're certainly maximizing that in order to help us move the investigation along."

Saturday morning's event at MachzikeiHadas Synagogue at 2310 Virginia Dr. will start at 11 a.m. ET.