The swastika is a symbol that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross, with its four arms bent at 90 degrees. The earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization as well as the Mediterranean Classical Antiquity and paleolithic Europe. Swastikas have also been used in various other ancient civilizations around the world including Turkic, India, Iran, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea and Europe. It remains widely used in Indian religions, specifically in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism, primarily as a tantric symbol that invokes Lakshmi - the Vedic goddess of wealth, prosperity and auspiciousness.

It is all in the interpretation... Just because a symbol was misused by one group, doesn't mean it is evil or loses its original meanings.

Am I right in thinking that Hitler reversed the direction of the original peaceful religious symbol?

An urgent meeting has been called for over the future of carved swastikas on Essex County Council's HQ building.

Earlier this week, it was reported the markings on County Hall had been deemed "potentially upsetting".

But a spokesman for the county council: "Plans for the County Hall building were drawn up from 1908 and our records show that the architect was ordered to finalise the plans in October 1926.

"Given similar designs are featured on a number of other public buildings of similar age across the world, including churches and universities, it is important that the symbol is seen in its architectural context.

"This part of County Hall has Grade II listed status and any changes to this frontage could be extremely costly to the public purse and would have to be approved by English Heritage."

To: Essex County Council and Chelmsford City Council

This is a Freedom of Information Act Request. Please treat it as such.

I am writing to enquire about the number of complaints about the swastika emblems that can be found on the Chelmsford's County Hall, Threadneedle Street, in Chelmsford, Essex (English Heritage listing: http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/res ... =mapsearch).

Specifically, I would like the following information:

1 - The number of complaints since the start of hostile action in World War II (generally held to be 1st September 1939)

2 - The nature and content of each complaint - a summary should suffice (I am not in need of copies of roiginal documents at this time), but I would like to know the reason for the complaint and what remedial action was requested by the complainant.

3 - The outcome of the complaint - was it investigated? What were the findings and recommendations made to resolve the issue?

Please email your response to:

Thank you.

Here’s my draft request. Is this comprehensive enough?