Mosque feels backlash from London Bridge jihadi attack after being daubed in anti-Islam graffiti
Devastated staff say they are 'hurt' by graffiti being treated by cops as a hate crime in wake of terror attack that killed seven
A MOSQUE has been defaced with offensive graffiti in the wake of the London Bridge and Manchester terror attacks.
The graffiti, which says “Muslim cowards”, cropped up overnight on the wall of Thornaby Mosque in Stockton-on-Tees.
The crime has been slammed by Cleveland Police, who have described it as “completely unacceptable”.
The force is treating it as a hate crime.
Thornaby Mosque secretary Mohammed Anwar said he noticed the slur when he arrived for prayers at around 3am on Monday.
Speaking on the offensive graffiti, he said: “We were very sad about it, we don’t like it.
“We don’t know why this has happened.
“I have been the secretary for 45 years and we have never had anything like this. We have never had a problem.
“Maybe it’s to do with the terrorist attacks – maybe it is, maybe it’s not.
“I don’t know why they are doing this, I don’t understand.
“We don’t condemn what’s happened, we don’t believe in it.
“Islam does not allow Muslims to do that.”
The 67-year-old said one of his colleagues informed the police about the graffiti on Monday.
He added: “We are worried about it.
“We like to have peace wherever we can, we always keep the peace.
“We try to make things better.
“Everyone is sad about it, everyone is talking about it.
“It’s so sad, it hurts me.”
Stockton Council’s Care For Your Area team has removed the graffiti.
A spokesperson for Cleveland Police said: “We received a call in the early hours of today, reporting graffiti on a wall of the mosque in Westbury Street, Thornaby and have arranged to speak to a representative from the mosque later today.
“In the meantime we would reiterate that this type of activity is completely unacceptable and that we are treating it as a hate crime.
“We would always encourage anyone who believes they have been victim of a hate crime to contact us, or if they do not want to speak to police, go via the True Vision organisation.”
A spokesman for the mosque told the Sun Online the building was defaced in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack, adding there was no chance of it being there before.
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