Police probe into 'whites not welcome' graffiti outside London primary school

Message found on path leading to Prince of Wales Primary School, in Enfield

Enfield Council removed the graffiti yesterday after parents complained



Headteacher Jan Bless said the words are not a reflection of the school



Pupils as young as four were forced to walk over graffiti which read 'whites not welcome' when they arrived at school yesterday.

The message was found on the entrance path leading to Prince of Wales Primary School, in Enfield, north London.

Hundreds of children saw the words but Enfield Council has said it has since been removed.

Police are now also investigating the incident.



Offensive: Pupils as young as four were forced to walk across graffiti which read 'no whites allowed' when they arrived at Prince Wales Primary School in Enfield, north London

However, some parents claim this is not the first time graffiti on this nature has appeared at the

school.

Mother Jasmin Nathan told the Evening Standard: 'I have two sons aged nine and six who both attend the school and my eldest immediately noticed it before I did and was very inquisitive about it, which broke my heart.



'I've been worried all day about how this may affect his school day or god-forbid, any conflict in the

playground as children can be unintentionally very spiteful, especially when discussing things they

don't have the mental capacity to understand.'

According to headteacher Jan Bless, other messages appeared along the same stretch of road.



He said: 'This was part of a wider graffiti trail which stretched about a quarter of a mile.



The message was found on the entrance path leading to Prince of Wales Primary School, in Enfield

'We immediately contacted the police and local authority.



'It seems the person who did this felt like they needed to say something but this has no reflection on the school.

'Parents were very distressed and shocked. We are very disappointed. It's not something that was

solely directed at the school.



'In my opinion someone felt they had something to say and unfortunately the school was along the path. The message does not reflect our school.'



Other examples of graffiti along the stretch of road include messages which read 'racist scum' and Enfield Council loves an imigrant' (sic).



...'Many children and parents have been upset by this graffiti and how it still remains on the school path beggars belief' Ms Nathan, concerned mother



Ms Nathan said: 'Two of the offending messages have been removed but as you can see a number of them still remain.

'Many children and parents have been upset by this graffiti and how it still remains on the school path beggars belief, particularly when parents have been very vocal to school staff about their concerns.



'The school is multi-cultural and this has offended pretty much everybody in some way, and the school and council have a duty of care towards our children to ensure they don't have to see racial abuse scrawled across the school path.'



A spokeswoman from Enfield Council said: 'We have removed this graffiti as a matter of urgency.

'We have a large multicultural and harmonious community in Enfield which embraces its diversity.



'Racism of any form is unwelcome in this borough. We’d like to thank the school for bringing this matter to our attention and enabling us to deal with it promptly.

'It is very difficult to prevent graffiti, but cases of graffiti in Enfield have dropped to an all time low in recent years.

'Our policy is to remove graffiti as rapidly as possible with a particular focus on removing offensive graffiti.

'We have reported this matter to the police who are investigating it.'

Last week a sign appeared outside Bartlett Park in Poplar, which read: 'Do not walk your dog here. 'Muslims don't like dogs. This is an Islamic area now.'



Labour Member of Parliament Jim Fitzpatrick alerted police and the local mayor about the sign after it was flagged up by one of the residents in his east London constituency.



Police say an investigation is now underway to find out who put it up.