LGBTQ+ Pride bench restored after Nazi graffiti attack in Lanzarote
A bench painted in the colours of the LGBTQ+ flag has been restored in Lanzarote after it was vandalised earlier this week with Nazi symbols and far-right slogans.
The bench, located in Punta Mujeres (Haría) and inaugurated on 17th June as part of Pride celebrations, was found on Tuesday covered with an orange-painted swastika and the phrase “viva Vox.”
By yesterday afternoon, Thursday, the Haría Town Council had already restored it, with mayor Alfredo Villalba confirming the repair and condemning the act “in the strongest terms.”
“This is the first time something like this has happened in our municipality, which has four other benches painted with the Pride colours. We will not be intimidated by this,” the mayor said. Villalba explained that the graffiti appeared at the end of the local patron saint festivities, a time when the village was particularly busy, and that the perpetrators remain unknown.
“A symbol of respect turned into a canvas of hate”
The president of the LGBTQ+ association Lánzate, Montse Cedrés, issued a statement stressing the importance of the bench as a public commitment to equality and respect. “The bench was inaugurated as a symbol of institutional support for LGBTQ+ rights. Turning it into a canvas of hate is an offence to the memory of those who fought before us and a reminder of why it is necessary to continue defending our spaces,” she said.
Cedrés added that Lanzarote is a diverse island and that neither fear nor intolerance will erase the progress achieved in recent years. She warned that the use of the swastika by extremist groups seeks to perpetuate “a legacy of hate and violence,” while the slogan “viva Vox” links the act to contemporary far-right rhetoric that undermines human rights, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ community.
“This is not just graffiti,” Cedrés concluded, “but a direct attack on diversity and coexistence in Lanzarote. The swastika is a symbol tied to extermination and hatred, and painting it on a bench that represents Pride is an act that wounds society as a whole, not only the LGBTQ+ community.”
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