The same night a church and cemetery were vandalized, a popular golf course was also targeted with spray-paint.
Some of the imagery left behind appears to be associated with a left-wing political network, but the group denies having anything to do with it.
Tuesday, it was business-as-usual for golfers at Old Ashburn, but not that way for everyone.
Groundskeepers are still cleaning-up -- and patching up -- a number of greens on the popular course. Gordie Smith is the general manager at the course and figures vandals cut-through a fence Sunday night, leaving a trail of destruction and spray-painted messages.
“They did get on five different greens and there's varying damage on each green,” Smith said.
The faint-outline of a circled “A” remains in the grass, generally acknowledged as a symbol of anarchy.
Smith says the vandalism is frustrating.
“I'm not sure why anyone would do something like this,” he said. It can be repaired, but it’s time-consuming and costly for staff to cut the sod out and re-sod parts of the green, and then let it “heal in,” he said.
Identical symbols were spray-painted at Mount Olivet Cemetery on Mumford Road and St. Theresa’s Church on Oxford Street.
The Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth expressed shock and sadness after the historic cemetery was targeted, with vandals paying special-attention to marble statues of Christ and other Christian figures.
The figures have since been draped while the church figures-out how to clean them.
City worker John Gamble, who examined the mess at St. Theresa’s after getting a call from a friend, says it's a mark he's seen many times before, most-recently in Clayton Park.
“I've been removing this tag up there for a month and a half,” says Gamble, who makes his living cleaning up graffiti. “Off everything you can name … the roads, signs, walkways bridges, overpasses -- everything.”
Gamble says it won’t be difficult to get the spray paint off, but the church doors will have to be refinished.
“It's just where they put it, it's kind of gross,” Gamble said. “If you're going to tag something, you got a problem if you're tagging a church, writing this kind of stuff on a church.”
The anarchist symbol is sometimes associated with the left-wing political-network called “Antifa.” The group does have a presence in Nova Scotia, but they deny having anything to do with the vandalism spree.
“Why would we attack a religious institute of any sort?" an administrator said in a Facebook message. “Where would that make any sense? We step-up and fight against racism and ignorance. What would be the point of vandalizing any church property of any form?"
Halifax police spokeswoman Cindy Bayer could not say if the three incidents are connected.
“The investigation into each of those incidents is in the early stages and ongoing at this time,” she said. “We are exploring the possibility that the three incidents are related.”
The clean-up and repairs continue, along with the investigation, but Gamble has a theory based on his first-hand experience cleaning it up.
"I figure it's the same guy,” he said. “It's the same tag; it's always the same way.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko.
