It took city crews five hours to clean up the damage after someone defaced White Rock's new rainbow crosswalk overnight.

The incident happened just after midnight on Friday, according to the city. Swastikas and misspelled slurs had been painted on the crossing.

The crosswalk was just unveiled last week, after some persuasion from Ernie Klassen and the White Rock Pride Committee.

Klassen owns a flower shop near the crosswalk and said the vandalism was hurtful.

"When I heard that someone had painted swastikas on there, it just brought back a lot of memories of when I was younger and my parents would talk about the Second World War and all the hatred that goes on," he told CBC News.

It took city crews five hours to clean the paint off the crosswalk. (Jesse Johnston/CBC)

City workers were out at the intersection at 6 a.m. with pressure washers, but it took until 11 a.m. to clean off the paint.

Klassen said the community has been nothing but supportive.

"I've just been receiving a lot of messages via social media and a lot of phone calls of support," he said.

The vandalism is just the latest in a string of incidents targeting rainbow crosswalks in B.C.

Salmon Arm's crossing was recently defaced twice in two weeks, and Surrey's was splattered with white paint in June, just 10 days after it was installed.

With files from Jesse Johnston

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