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PHILADELPHIA (FOX 29) - Philadelphia police say a statue was knocked down and smashed outside a school in Chinatown.
In front of the Folk Arts Cultural Treasures School in Chinatown sits a stone lion. It's a male--with a ball under a front paw--a symbol of protection for the school building it guards. On the other side of the gate, there's an empty pedestal where the female lion once sat.
"This is a Chinese community. The Asian community that reported to us that an important, significant symbol of their community was vandalized," Rue Landau with the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission said.
It was Sunday when the lion was discovered knocked to the sidewalk. A piece of its head was broken. The pair were a gift from the Chinatown community to the charter school when it moved to a Callowhill address in 2006.
Philadelphia police say its Central Detectives Unit is investigating and by midday Tuesday, two investigators appeared at the school and were met by its executive director.
The school reports an outside wall at the charter had been sprayed with paint a week earlier. A surveillance camera can be seen at the charter's front door possibly capturing images of the acts.
The executive director of Philadelphia's Human Relations Commission says her agency's probe will focus on the vandalism as a possible 'bias incident".
"Our role is to make sure we're easing tensions in the community and fear because any act like this, regardless of motivation, sends tremendous fear and sadness through a community," Landau explained.