Offensive graffiti targeting the Indian community was spotted outside Papatoetoe Central School over the weekend.
Police have launched an investigation after the entrance of Papatoetoe Central School was tagged with a violent threat towards “all Indians”.
The graffiti was reported on Saturday evening and police are treating the incident as a “hate-motivated crime”.
It came a day after three members of the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team were re-elected on to the Ōtara‑Papatoetoe Local Board, with the Auckland District Court having ordered the election to be re-held because of vote fraud.
The Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team, made up of Indian New Zealanders, was accused on social media of organising the fraud despite the court finding no evidence to prove they were involved.
Meanwhile, online vitriol aimed at Indians – often called “Indian hate” – has risen in recent years.
Papatoetoe Central School has more than 30 South Asian staff members.
The primary school’s principal Raj Dullabh has Indian heritage and posted a statement on the school’s Facebook page to address the incident.
“We are deeply saddened and offended by the content written.
“The tagging has been covered, and we will look to erase the content once the storm passes.”
Dullabh asked the school’s community to “remain calm” while the police investigated.
Activist Shaneel Lal, who is of Indian and native Fijian descent, said the words plastered outside the school were “grotesque, extreme and plainly evil”.
“This was done outside a school where children as young as 5 to 11 attend. This would traumatise a child,” they said.
Lal said the incident “did not happen in a vacuum” and was part of “a steady rise in racism against the Indian community and the wider South Asian community”.
Lal felt the location of the graffiti was “disturbing” because Papatoetoe was known to have a significant Indian population, often called “Little India”.
Meanwhile, New Zealanders of different ethnic backgrounds have been participating in an online dance trend to a song called “Papatoetoe”.
The Punjabi song is by the artist Mannu Singh DilDoria and had gained popularity for highlighting the connection between Papatoetoe and its Indian community.
Manukau West Area commander inspector Dave Christoffersen said police were investigating a report of “wilful damage” outside the primary school.
He said it was reported the graffiti was of a “threatening nature” and was located on the footpath outside the school.
The incident happened at the weekend and with school holidays underway no students were at the school when the graffiti was spotted.
“Our inquiries are still in the early stages, but we are treating this as a hate-motivated crime,” Christoffersen said.
“Police recognise this incident will be concerning for our Indian communities and we will be focused on establishing who is responsible.”
Police asked anyone with information about who did the graffiti, and when they did it, to contact 105 and use the reference number 260411/8410.
Anti-Indian sentiments seem to be on the rise in New Zealand and online.
In December, protesters from a group called True Patriots of New Zealand disrupted religious Sikh parades in South Auckland.
They wore shirts with slogans such as “Kiwis first”, “Keep NZ, NZ” and “True patriot”, and carried a banner which read “This is New Zealand not India”.
The group, which is linked to Brian Tamaki and Destiny Church, interrupted a similar Sikh procession in Tauranga in January.
Tamaki posted on social media to address the graffiti outside the primary school.
He said while he did not “condone hate” or “violence”, the “mass Indian crowds” he saw in Takanini on the weekend made him think he could have been in Mumbai.
“This is a public display of our Kiwi way of life being pushed aside.
“Change being forced on Kiwis. And Kiwis are starting to wake up,” Tamaki’s post read.
More than 292,000 New Zealanders identify as being of Indian origin, according to the 2023 Census.
Earlier this year, RNZ reported that police hate crime data showed people of South Asian descent were the group most targeted by racial abuse.
Last week, a group called Remigration New Zealand held a banner saying “Remigration Now” outside the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in central Auckland, calling for the “remigration of the Indian diaspora”.
Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.