Racist sign in downtown St. John's leaves councillor 'shocked'

A vulgar sign posted on a downtown St. John's pole has shocked the ward's councillor, and is currently under investigation by police.

The sign was spotted early Wednesday morning on a pole located at a bus stop at the bottom of Long's Hill near Livingstone Street.

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It was hand-written in black ink on yellow bristol board, and read "kill n-----s" with a swastika drawn on the bottom.

"Wow. Unbelievable," said Coun. Jonathan Galgay when CBC News showed him a photo of the sign.

"I've never seen anything like that before and to me it would be considered to be a hate crime."

Galgay said in all his years growing up and living in St. John's, he's never seen a sign of that nature before and was upset that it had been up for several hours Wednesday morning.

After learning of the sign's existence, Galgay contacted the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to report it.

"Never, ever in my life have I ever seen anything like that. We are a city of multiculture, openness and to see something like this today is completely, completely upsetting and very disappointing," he said.

"This is intolerable, it shouldn't be something we should be prepared to see in any city in Canada or around the world and to see it in St. John's is extremely disappointing and very upsetting."

City workers were also sent to the site to ensure the sign had been removed.

However, by the time they arrived someone else had already taken the sign down.

The incident is under investigation by police.