Fredericton cafe owner upset after swastikas drawn on wall, police investigating

A Fredericton cafe owner says she was upset to find swastikas drawn on the outside of her coffee shop over the weekend.

Chess Piece Patisserie co-owner Patti Hollenberg said she showed up to work early Saturday morning to find several of the symbols drawn on the side wall facing the alleyway of the Queen Street cafe.

“My heart sank,” Hollenberg said. “I was upset about it all day.”

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Hollenberg has since painted over the symbols but said she called police and posted photos of the vandalism on social media.

Hollenberg said she isn’t taking it personally and believes whoever drew the swastikas didn’t intend to target her or her staff.

“It can’t be hate if they didn’t realize what they were doing, but it was based very loudly on ignorance,” Hollenberg said.

Chess Piece employee Gaby Salgado was working when Hollenberg came in and alerted staff to what she found.

“Patti came in quite upset and so she told us to go take a look in the ally of what was written on the wall. It was swastikas,” Salgado said. “It was quite upsetting because it doesn’t really seem like that type of stuff happens anymore.”

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Hollenberg’s social-media post garnered lots of support from people in the community.

“As heartbreaking as this was to see on Saturday morning, the community support and the rally behind it means a lot more,” Hollenberg said.

Fredericton Police Force spokesperson Alycia Bartlett confirmed a complaint of graffiti at Chess Piece occurred over the weekend.

She said police are actively investigating, and anyone with information is asked to contact Fredericton Police at 460-2300 or Crime Stoppers.