TORONTO

Doug Ford claimed Sunday that men laid pieces of wood with nails in them in front of his vehicle downtown.

Ford revealed the incident on Sunday after he was asked about racist graffiti being scrawled on the sign of Etobicoke North (Ward 2) candidate Munira Abukar. She was expected to file a report about the incident with Toronto Police on Sunday.

While Mayor Rob Ford’s brother again condemned that incident of racism in his council ward, he went on to argue that the Ford family has also been subjected to bullying and intimidation.

“The Fords have been bullied for the last four years,” Ford said during a campaign stop at the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Rexdale.

He said his family has received threatening letters and other forms of harassment.

“I wouldn’t want to repeat it,” Ford said on the “disgusting” comments. “Twitter is one of the worst. They hide behind a name and they trash anyone out there, they aren’t held accountable, they say libelous things, hateful things.”

Ford then raised a recent incident where men placed boards with nails in front of his vehicle. Although Ford said he couldn’t remember where the encounter happened, he said it was in the downtown.

“They laid two pieces of wood, about eight feet, right across the road,” he said. “We had to swerve around it. It wouldn’t have hurt anyone but it was damaging property. They stood there all proud, jumping up and down like they were heroes ... what do you do?”

Mayoral candidate also John Tory condemned the racist graffiti scrawled on Abukar’s sign.

“There is no place for racism anywhere in the city whether it is in politics or whether it is in any other aspect of life,” Tory told the Sun on Sunday.

“It is unacceptable. I always believe that those kind of things come from a very tiny minority of people but we still have to work to make sure it just doesn’t happen.”

Chow - who denounced the incident involving Abukar’s sign on Saturday - said she’s also been subjected to racism throughout the campaign.

“It is unbelievable,” Chow said on Sunday. “I believe our good city really does not reflect those values.”

“That is why they need a mayor that reflects the city and is very strong in saying no to discrimination and to racism.”

In particular, Chow dismissed the racist attacks focused on telling her and other candidates who are visible minorities to “go home.”

“My home is Canada, my home is Toronto,” Chow said.

Abukar said her campaign has received one racist e-mail and 10 to 15 “hateful” tweets since she went public with the sign incident.

“(The e-mail) said I’m brainwashing people, that no one’s going to be holding hands and singing Kumbaya,” Abukar said.

“The positive is outweighing the small pockets of tweets coming in about hate. That will always outweigh people who are ignorant and don’t understand what diversity is and what it’s like to live in a diverse city.”

-- files from Dave Abel and Jenny Yuen