Anti-Islamic stickers found on lamp-posts in Blackpool

The Blackpool Gazette reports on a police investigation launched by Lancashire police following a spate of “racially-aggravated symbols and posters” being found on buildings and stuck to lamp-posts in the Lytham Road area of the town.

Swastikas daubed on buildings and stickers featuring “racist and anti-Islamic messages” have been spotted on lamp-posts in the South Shore area.

Blackpool Council confirmed the incidents saying officers were receiving “one or two” reports a week from members of the public reporting the sightings.

A spokesman for the council told the local paper: “Plastering stickers on street furniture or lamp-posts is unacceptable – particularly when the content is offensive. The content of some of the stickers is very worrying. We are removing them as soon as they are reported to us and working with the police to identify anybody responsible.”

Insp Russel Farrand said around 30 stickers had been removed in the last six months and while the vandalism was initially noticed in the South Shore area, it was beginning to move into areas of the town centre and Layton.

He said: “It’s a hate crime which will not be tolerated. The wording of these stickers is extremely offensive.”

Insp Russel Farrand said, “We want to make it clear to those responsible that they will be caught and they will be dealt with as robustly as the law allows.”

Police are awaiting a charging decision in relation to one individual in connection with the acts of vandalism “But we want to find out who has been posting and producing these stickers,” Farrand added.