'How can this be?' Boston Holocaust memorial is vandalised for second time in months

A holocaust memorial in Boston has been vandalised for the second time in months.

One of the New England Holocaust Memorial’s glass panels, which was intricately engraved to represent the six million Jews killed in the genocide, was shattered into pieces by a rock thrown at the memorial.

The latest alleged act of vandalism comes after hundreds of neo-Nazis and other white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, against the removal of a Confederate statue. Many rioters shouted anti-Semitic chants.

Barry Shrage, president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, told CNN of the vandalism: "How can this be in this country, in this city, so near to the graves of patriots who fought for freedom and liberty in this place?

"What did we see over the weekend in Charlottesville? What do we have to think about this?

“When we see those clownish figures in their Nazi uniforms pretending to be human, pretending to be something more than they are, pretending to be important. It's important to remember what that represents."

Mr Shrage added: “Where is the Franklin Roosevelt who led our country against Nazism. Where is our president? Where is the condemnation of evil?"

The memorial was first vandalised in June when another of the site’s glass panels was shattered.

Members of the community came together to condemn what had happened at a gathering.

According to the mayor of Malden, Gary Christenson, the most recent alleged act of vandalism "in no way reflects what our community stands for."

The senior imam at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, Shaykh Yasir Fahmy, said: “Unequivocally as Muslims we stand firmly side by side with our Jewish brothers and sisters who have faced so much pain and have been the object of so much hurt over this period of time," the imam said.

"Twice in one summer to have their sacred memorial desecrated is emblematic of a toxic reality that's playing out.

"To hear those chants in Charlottesville, to see what was being said about our Jewish brothers and sisters, was extremely painful."

A 17-year-old has since been charged with disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property over $250 and causing injury over $5,000 in a church, synagogue or memorial.