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A vandal sprayed vile and abusive graffiti on a landmark listed building to intimidate people attending a meeting to debate sex-change legislation.

Organisers have spoken of their shock and blamed a minority group of trans-gender anarchists for daubing words and logos on Odd Fellows Hall – the so-called Egyptian House.

Police are investigating and money is being raised for specialist work to repair the building in Devonport.

The Let a Woman Speak (Laws) group was consulting on the Gender Recognition Act which aims to streamline the sex realignment process on Saturday night.

Details of the venue were only released at midnight Friday into Saturday amid a fierce national debate over the issues.

But a vandal that night targeted the hall, home to the Ker Street Social Club, writing abuse for what it called Terfs or “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists”.

Two pieces of graffiti were daubed on the side and the front of the historic building, including the anarchist symbol.

(Image: Jon Bishop)

One of the organisers told Plymouth Live that the 65 people attending the meeting were greeted with the abuse.

(Image: Jon Bishop)

She said: “It was designed to intimidate and people were intimidated. I am really shocked and feel awful for the venue. It is horrible that they have been caught up on this.”

Those attending were advised by organisers to go to the meeting by taxi for fear that transgender activists would stage a demonstration.

The woman, who did not want to give her name, said the social club was not taking sides in the debate but just providing a venue.

She added that there was a “smear campaign” against Laws saying that those involved were discriminating against transgender people.

(Image: Jon Bishop)

The organiser said that the meeting, was open to transgender people who wanted to make their point – as long as they did not dominate the discussion.

She added that Laws was looking to raise money to repair the damage and had already received some donations. The cost of the work is yet to be estimated.

The Government is consulting on streamlining the sex change process which can take up to two years. But there are fears that relying more on a person’s self-identification could allow abuse of the process – for example by sex offenders.

Odd Fellows Hall, built in 1823, is a Grade 1 listed building and survived the extensive bombing of Devonport in World War Two.

The large, two-storey building positioned next to Devonport Guildhall, was built in 1823 in an Egyptian style by the famous architect John Foulston.

The materials used on the building are strictly controlled to preserve its historic character.

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