AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY: At a prominent Australian university, the Islamic prayer rooms have been damaged and flooded with racist notes accusing Muslims of being rapists and thieves. At 10 am on Monday, Muslim students entered their prayer room in Old Teachers’ College to find it had been ransacked, with a racially abusive letter left at the door, Honi Soit student newspaper of the University of Sydney reported.

The room had been trashed, with wardrobes and cupboards emptied and rubbish strewn on the floor Monday’s incident was the 5th break-in in three months, following four previous incidents between December 11 and February 1. It comes two weeks after Islamophobic graffiti was found in the Sydney University graffiti tunnel. Honi understands campus security have been aware of the incidents since December, and Director of Student Support Services, Jordi Austin, was informed in January.

President of the Sydney University Muslim Society Nasreen Dean told Honi police from Newtown local area command attended the scene by midday.
The police informed students there was no sign of forced entry. Nothing has been reported stolen. Campus security had earlier told Elkheir the door had not been closed on Friday evening, leaving it open all weekend. Security noticed the door was open at 6 am Monday, by which time the room had already been ransacked. Police are examining video footage and seized the racially abusive letter for fingerprint testing.