THE PSNI HAS confirmed that it is investigating a picture that shows a five-year-old girl with a sectarian slogan painted across her face.

The image, which has been shared extensively online, shows the girl at a Twelfth of July party with KAT in the colours of the British flag painted on her forehead.

KAT is an abbreviation of the anti-Catholic slur “Kill All Taigs”.

The PSNI told TheJournal.ie that the picture had been reported.

“Police have received a report, enquiries will be carried out to establish if any offences have been committed.”

The Irish News, which first reported the story, quotes the unnamed girl’s mother as saying that she hadn’t seen the facepaint before it was done.

“A load of the kids got the paints and wrote it. They see it all the time sprayed all over the walls in the area.”

The paper adds that Alliance Party MP for East Belfast Naomi Long called the incident “utterly depressing and shocking”.