Holocaust memorial in Boston vandalized for second time this summer

The New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston has been vandalized for the second time this summer.

A 17-year-old Malden boy is accused of smashing a glass panel on the memorial on Monday. Police say the boy was detained by two bystanders until police arrived. They say he will be charged with willful and malicious destruction of property.

In June, police said James Isaac, 21, used a rock to shatter a glass panel on one of the memorial’s six 54-foot-high (16-meter-high) towers. Isaac has pleaded not guilty to vandalism charges.

The six glass towers are lit internally and etched with millions of numbers that represent tattoos on the arms of many Jews sent to Nazi death camps.

The memorial opened in 1995 in the heart of Boston and is open to the public 24 hours a day. It includes six glass towers representing the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust, as well as the six major death camps. The towers resemble chimneys built with 132 panes of glass etched with numbers that had been tattooed on the arms of Jews during the Holocaust.

Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh said he’s “saddened to see such a despicable action.”