A wall of the Sofia Central Synagogue was defaced with an antisemitic message and a swastika, Bulgaria’s Central Israelite Spritual Council said on August 22.

Daubed on the wall of the Balkan peninsula’s largest synagogue was the inscription “14/88” a white supremacist numeric symbol.

In addition, an attempt was made to paint a swastika, which clearly and unequivocally shows that the act was not just an act of vandalism, but an antisemitic one, the Central Israelite Religious Council.

“We strongly condemn this action and call on the authorities to find the perpetrators as soon as possible and to impose the most severe sanctions,” the council said.

This is the latest incident of antisemitic vandalism in Bulgaria, following incidents that have included daubing of graffiti on monuments and breaking of headstones in Jewish cemeteries. Among the most recent was the daubing of antisemitic graffiti on Plovdiv’s Zion Synagogue in December 2020.