NYPD Investigating Possible Hate Crime After Statue Of Polish Hero Father Jerzy Popiełuszko Is Vandalized

CBS New York

May 7, 2021

The NYPD is investigating a possible hate crime in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, after a statue with deep significance to New York’s vibrant Polish community was vandalized.

Bartosz Syrek, a Polish-American resident of Greenpoint, brought flowers to the statue honoring a hero of Polish freedom from communism, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, who was murdered by Polish police in 1984.

Sunday, the monument in McCarren Park was covered in trash, a garbage bag was over the statue’s head and the words “no Polish” were scrawled on the stone.

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