A Unanderra barber whose business was painted with a message – “f--- off dog” – on his first weekend of trading says the graffiti is unnerving and likely racially motivated.
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Bilal El Mohamad, 24, spent eight weeks readying a shop space on Central Road before opening the doors last week. At the weekend, he arrived to find the front windows covered with the offensive message and other signage sprayed to obliterate the name of the business, Cutting Edge Barbers.
Though the message does not specifically mention his Islamic faith, he believes the vandal noticed his friends and family helping with the refurbishment and formed a negative opinion.
“It’s got me worried, and put us off the area a bit,” he said. “If this is the start, what’s next?”
Omar Nemer, of Samara’s restaurant – the target of anti-Islamic online abuse last year – has condemned the abuse. “Yes he grows a beard, yes he is a practicing Muslim, but he still pays his taxes, eats, sleeps just like everyone else,” Mr Nemer wrote on social media.
“Show him you support young people opening a business on their own, and you support multiculturalism.”
