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Members of Calgary’s Sikh community are speaking out after a Sikh temple was spray-painted with hateful graffiti.

Early Thursday morning, the World Sikh Organization of Canada said swastikas and profanity were painted on the property of the Sikh Society of Calgary on 81st Street S.W.

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On Friday, graffiti was visible around six locations in and around the building. Police confirmed a graffiti co-ordinator and a hate crime co-ordinator have been called in to investigate the vandalism.

Photo by Jim Wells / Jim Wells/Postmedia

The WSO said the group have seen an increase in “racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic vandalism across Canada,” and the WSO responds to acts of vandalism through education and community outreach programs.

“These deplorable acts are motivated by ignorance and all Canadians must stand in solidarity to ensure that racist and discriminatory rhetoric is loudly rejected,” said Calgary-based Tejinder Singh Sidhu, WSO vice-president for Alberta, in a statement.