Anti-Muslim graffiti at University of Birmingham

The Birmingham Mail and ITV News report on anti-Muslim graffiti which has appeared on the walls of the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston and the Jahalabad mosque in Selly Oak.

The two incidents are linked according to West Midlands Police who are investigating the hate crimes.

A slogan painted onto the wall of the university building housing the psychology department read ‘Islam must die’.

Sgt Pete Sandhu, of West Midlands Police said: “Mindless hate of this kind has no place in 21st century Birmingham and work is underway to find the person responsible.

“My officers have visited both sites and spoken to a number of people.

“Evidential photographs have been taken and CCTV which may have captured the vandal is currently being reviewed.”

The incident comes a week after the cold blooded murders of cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris and reports of retaliatory attacks against Muslims in the UK. Over the weekend, reports of mosques receiving death threats and offensive drawings emerged.

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in 2013 hate crimes against Muslim communities in the UK also spiked with a number of police forces reporting a doubling in Islamophobic hate crime.

It is notable that the Government Department for Communities and Local Government issued a letter to all Leaders of Local Authorities last year reminding them of their statutory obligations in relation to anti-Semitic graffiti and other acts of racist vandalism occurring in local areas. Needless to say, no such letter has been sent to local authorities with specific mention of tackling anti-Muslim graffiti.