Swedish school gets ‘love bombing’ after anti-Semite graffiti attack

It was a horrifying sight.

On Monday morning, staff and students arrived at Vasa Real school in central Stockholm to find Nazi graffiti covering the building.

On its walls were swastikas, derogatory phrases directed at Jews, and the number 1488, a symbol for the Nazi greeting "Heil Hitler."

This particular school of 800-plus students offers three classes for Jewish children who study Hebrew and Jewish studies in addition to the Swedish curriculum.

"The fact that they targeted a school with Jewish kids is a sign for me that they're really organized. They know exactly what they're doing," concerned parent Calle Nathanson told The Local, offering examples of Nazism spreading through Europe. "It's incredible that (Swedish security police) Säpo doesn't work efficiently with this issue... they must start taking it seriously."

The school closed down for the morning while staff members strategized how to move forward and cleaners scrubbed the hateful markings off the building. The incident is still under police investigation.

Local authorities revealed that a nearby school with a high proportion of ethnic minority students was also vandalized with swastikas on Monday night.

The next day, Vasa Real school was targeted again — this time, with love.

Members of Sweden's Liberal Party youth wing had organized a "love bombing."

"We wanted the pupils at the school to be greeted by love in the morning instead of all the hate they saw on Monday," young Liberal Bawar Esmail told The Local.

"So a group of us got together and cut (out) some heart-shaped paper and put them up on the doors and in the hallways at the school," he explained. "People passing by joined in, and everyone wrote messages for the students."

The messages included encouragement like "Love overcomes hate" and "Love comes in all shapes and colours."

News of the love bombing spread online with the hashtag "#1000xFler" or "1,000 times more."

See images of the "love bombing" — and of people showing their support to Vasa Real's students — here.

Photo from Eric Scheller via Twitter.