A village road sign was targeted in a “Brexit-related” act of vandalism after the name of its twinned French town was daubed over in white paint.
The name of Samois-sur-Seine was painted over on two signs in Harbury, Warks., on Friday evening (31/1) – on “Brexit Day”.
Villagers discovered the vandal had struck on Hillside and Bush Heath Road the following morning and have since removed the paint.
Parish council chairman Tim Lockley said: “There was clear Brexit-related intent to this.
“But even people who are in support of Brexit did not think this was an appropriate thing to do.
“There was anger because it makes Harbury look like a village where these kind of views are popular or common, which is not true at all.
“People have been universally critical of what happened – Harbury has a great relationship with Samois-sur-Seine, which has gone on for more than 20 years.
“But while the act did not reflect well on Harbury the response to it did.
“We are not a small-minded and bigoted community at all we have a strong community spirit and 40 or 50 people each year take part in the twinning trips.
“I can’t see any other conclusion other than it was Brexit-related, otherwise the word Harbury would have been damaged as well, but it was only the bit related to twinning.”
Resident Sheila Lloyd, 75, a retired factory machinist, said: “I don’t know why anyone would do this. Its not that sort of village.
“Most of us our proud of our association with Europe, even if we don’t agree with the concept of the European Union itself.”
Richard Marshall-Hardy, of the Harbury News Community Facebook page, added: “It is appalling.
“Notwithstanding which way I voted in the referendum, this kind of behaviour continues to be divisive, it upsets people and it is unnecessary.”
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