(Image source from: abcotvs.com)

A Chinese Gourmet Garden restaurant was vandalized with hateful messages in Wyckoff, New Jersey last night. The hate was coming from the coronavirus pandemic which originated in China and has taken a toll on everyone lives around the world.

The Chinese Hotel was vandalized with spray pain and messages on the windows, doors and even the side walk. There were other businesses in the lane including a nail spa, saloon but this was the only business that got vandalized. The restaurant is located in the small stripquick mart. There were dozens of various businesses. The motive stands out to be the ethnicity of the owners because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gourmet Garden restaurant has been there for years and has been serving the public day and night. Even during this difficult pandemic the owners made sure to deliver food with hygiene protocols and offer take away to the people of the area. The owners said that they arrived around 8:00 AM to the restaurant and by that time the police were already there and were investigating the scene. The graffiti was still there and the police had gotten a 911 call from another resident of that area.

The residents and customers of Wyckoff were very surprised and scared as they have been a community with different races and colors and that they all lived like a community there without being in equal to anyone. The act has left everyone speechless as Wyckoff in NewJersey has been known for being a welcoming community where people from all regions of the world irrespective of any caste, creed or gender are treated equally.

But a turn out there still is hate among people which comes from their hearts to do something like this.

The police are investigating the case as a hate crime as the culprits have left hateful messages like ‘coronavirus’, Covid, Go home to China and many more. The culprit hasn’t been recognized and caught yet. The cops have recognized the crime as a racism behavior as there seems no other reason for such a despicable act. The authorities have called this a horrid act of hatred and have rendered their support towards the family of that respective business.     

The other authorized officials came to the scene to clear the spray paint of from the different parts of the restaurant and everything is clear. 2 such vandalizing of properties had happened in Wyckoff.

By Deepika Agarwal