COUNCILLORS have condemned people with anti-Semitic attitudes in the city, after a memorial tree remembering victims of the Holocaust was vandalised.

Councillor Derek Brown brought the matter to the city council on Monday night, and said he felt "disappointment and despair" at the damage, adding: "We as a council should formally show our abhorrence of such acts."

The myrtle tree was planted in 2007 and pays tribute to those who lost their lives during the Holocaust.

It was deliberately damaged twice in July, and Salisbury MP John Glen said he had been "reliably informed" that "other acts of anti-Semitism" had also taken place at the site, including the destruction of flowers left there.

Cllr Brown said: "Before anyone does something similar I want everyone to understand that as a council we are saying that in future no-one can plead ignorance or hide behind any kind of excuse."

And he said he hoped it would send a strong message of support to Salisbury's Jewish community.

Mayor Michael Osment said he had visited the tree after it was vandalised. "It was clearly no accident, it was a deliberate act that has happened on more than one occasion," he said.

"It's quite sad to think that there are people in our community who would do that."

And council leader Matthew Dean said he was pleased the issue was receiving "cross party support" and called the vandalism "a terrible thing".

He said the city council will replace the tree with something "more established and durable" during the winter planting season.

The council voted unanimously to demonstrate its commitment to fighting anti-Semitism by adopting a working definition of the term used by more than 100 other local councils and the police.