Lithuanian letters on five bilingual signs were crossed out in red and white, colors of the national Polish flag.
"A total of five signs were blotted. The Lithuanian inscription was painted with white and red," Liškauskas told BNS. In his words, the tainted signs were noticed at about 3 AM on Sunday.
Liškauskas said the incident looks like a premeditated nationalist attack: "They had to have paint and plan things. The police are working to solve the incident, I hope they manage, although it is not an easy task."
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius condemned the incident in Poland: "Such type of acts are pitiable. I hope that the Polish police investigate it thoroughly."
This was not the first attack of such type against the local Lithuanian community. In August 2011, Lithuanian words were crossed out in yellow and red paint on 28 signs of 14 towns and villages. Furthermore, a monument in Punsk to mark 100 years since the first Lithuanian-language play was vandalized. A monument poet Albinas Žukaukas was later vandalized in Bubeliai village in Sejny district.
According to data provided by the Lithuanian Embassy to Poland, about 15,000 people of Lithuanian descent reside in Poland.
