Nassau County

Hundreds Attend ‘Break the Hate' Rally After Anti-Semitic Graffiti Found at Long Island High School

Hundreds of people packed a Jewish community center, hours after swastikas and anti-Semitic messages were found spray-painted on the walls, doors and windows of a Long Island high school. 

About 400 people showed up for a "Break the Hate" rally at the Mid Island Y JCC in Plainview on Sunday evening. 

The rally was planned before the hateful symbols were found at Syosset High School, but it's likely the discovery drove more people to show up. The high school and JCC are a few miles from one another. 

An invitation to the rally urged attendance from "everyone and anyone who is fed up with the dangerous direction that our country and our local communities are taking." 

Detectives believe the vandalism at the high school occurred between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Sunday.

Nassau County police say "MS13" and profanities also were found painted in the rear of the school. MS-13 is the Salvadoran-based street gang that has been blamed for more than 20 killings on Long Island in the past year and a half.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the graffiti.

Syosset School Board trustee Joshua A. Lafazan issued a statement decrying the graffiti. He said he will call for increased security at all the school district's 10 buildings.

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