A historic black church in Mississippi has been burned and spray-painted with "Vote Trump" in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime one week before the US presidential election.
Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown Sr told a news conference that investigators had determined the fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was "intentionally set."
"Samples and evidence have been collected from inside the church and are being analysed to determine the accelerant or ignition source," Brown said.
Earlier in the day he said no one was injured in the Tuesday evening blaze, but the church was extensively damaged.
"We're investigating this as a hate crime," Greenville Police Chief Delando Wilson told a news conference early on Wednesday. "We feel that the quote on the church is intimidating.
"It tries to push your beliefs on someone else, and this is a predominantly black church and no one has a right to try to influence the way someone votes in this election."
Wilson told the Wall Street Journal that police on Wednesday evening were interviewing a "person of interest" in connection with the fire but the individual had not been charged.
Black churches in the US South have long been a base of support for the Democratic Party.
During the US civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, southern black churches were often targets for arson and bombings by white supremacists.
"The FBI Jackson Division is aware of the situation in Greenville, and we are working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to determine if any civil rights crimes were committed," the agency said in a statement.
"This act is a direct assault of people's right to freely worship," Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons said in a statement.
He called the arson a "heinous, hateful, cowardly act."
"We consider it a hate crime ... because of the political message which we believe was intended to interfere with worship and intimidate voters."
Share
