Halifax Regional Police are looking for the people who knocked over and broke gravestones in Mount Olivet Cemetery, a final resting place for some of the victims of the Halifax Explosion and the Titanic sinking.

They are asking for tips from the public after the cemetery was damaged on Jan. 21, likely overnight.

The eight damaged gravestones are along Olivet Street, in sections 4 and 5 of the cemetery.

"It's very disheartening. I don't know what's wrong with people that they feel that this is something that's fun to do. It just doesn't make sense to me," says James Haviland, who lives in the area and walks through the cemetery almost every day.

"The total lack of respect that people have for the graveyard is hard to take."

A toppled and broken headstone in Mount Olivet Cemetery. (Steve Berry/CBC)

Mount Olivet Cemetery is the final resting place of 150 victims of the Halifax explosion, including Vince Coleman, the dispatcher who sacrificed his life to warn others of the impending disaster nearly 100 years ago.

Military veterans and victims of the Titanic disaster are also buried at Mount Olivet.

"Police are taking this very seriously in light of the disrespectful nature of the incident and given the cemetery's historic significance to our community," Halifax Regional Police said in a statement.