A large mosque in Melbourne’s outer west that was vandalised with Islamophobic graffiti will hold a community meeting to discuss the “disturbing” incident.
Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing was sprayed with the words “Get some pork on ya fork” on Friday morning, sparking condemnation from state MPs. Eating pork is forbidden under Islamic law.
Offensive graffiti at Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing. Credit: Islamic Council of Victoria
The Virgin Mary Mosque has about 7000 worshippers. Almost 9 per cent of Hoppers Crossing residents are Muslim, compared with 4.2 per cent of Victorians, according to the latest census.
Dr Seyed Sheriffdeen, secretary of the Australian Islamic Mission, which owns Virgin Mary Mosque as well as the Bendigo Mosque, said the mosque expected hundreds of people to gather on Saturday night following the “racist” graffiti. “The community is disturbed and upset about it,” he said.
Sheriffdeen said the mosque had video footage of the one-person attack, which happened just after midnight on Friday. The graffiti was spotted by people doing their 5am prayers on Friday and swiftly removed by the mosque.
“We called the police, but the police did not come yet,” he said. However, Victoria Police said it was yet to receive a report about the incident.
“We didn’t want to highlight this one,” Sheriffdeen said. “We wanted to paint [over] it and forget about it. But already, before we did all of that, people have seen it in photos and floating around social media.”
Sheriffdeen said the 21-year-old mosque had experienced attacks before, but none as bad as this graffiti. “Before this, we had here and there, small things happen,” he said.
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