Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted at a park in Prestwich and football pitches have been set on fire at the beauty spot.

On Tuesday morning, a large swastika was painted on an area of pavement in Drinkwater Park.

The graffiti appeared ahead of Yom Kippur, the Jewish faith’s holiest day.

On Wednesday, Prestwich Cllr Alan Quinn confirmed the symbol had been removed by the council.

Cllr Quinn condemned the damage as "sinister" saying it was "not representative of this area".

He said: “I got a report of it yesterday (Tuesday) so we wanted to get it removed as fast as possible and they've done a really good job you can't tell it was there in the first place.

“It’s sinister, it's on the eve of Yom Kippur and it's not representative of this area.

“We have a large Jewish community in Manchester, Salford and Bury when we stand shoulder to shoulder with them as we do with all communities.”

On Monday, the chairman of Bury Amateur AFC, Phil Saville found fence panels at the park’s football pitches had been damaged and set on fire on the nearby grass.

The pitches, which are used by the club’s junior teams, are now unusable until the ground can be repaired.

Bury Times: Fencing at Drinkwater Park football pitches was removed and set alight.Fencing at Drinkwater Park football pitches was removed and set alight. (Image: Phil Saville)

Phil said: “We have constant battles with people damaging fencing but not to this level.

“In this instance, for them to damage the fence with the severity that they’ve done and then carry the fencing 60m to 70m to the middle of the football pitch and set fire to it its not just damaging the fence to gain access that’s damaging a football pitch to stop kids playing football which is just brutal.

Bury Times: Damaged fencing at Drinkwater Park. Photo: Phil SavillDamaged fencing at Drinkwater Park. Photo: Phil Savill (Image: Phil Saville)

Phil now says the cost of repairing the damage will run into the thousands.

He added: “We have a budget to be able to mend things as they get broken, but this is the biggest attack we’ve had and this will run into £1,500 to £2,000 as a minimum to try and get it fixed.

“At this time of year, grass doesn’t grow, seed doesn’t take, and we don’t get a great deal of sunshine in Manchester anyway, it’s just difficult to do.”