(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A billboard carrying the slogan ”Jesus: a prophet of Islam” has been vandalised one day after it was posted on one of Sydney’s busiest roads, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
The billboard is one of three paid for by an Islamic group called MyPeace and features a phone number for people to call to receive a free Koran and other Islamic literature.
The organiser of MyPeace, Diaa Mohamed, said the vandalism of the billboard at Victoria Road, Rozelle, ”validates the reason they went up in the first place”.
Since the billboards were erected in Darlinghurst, Rozelle and Rosehill on Thursday and Friday, and featured in the Herald on Saturday, Mr Mohamed said he had been inundated with phone calls and emails.
“I’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from Christians, atheists, Muslims, everyday Australians, saying, ‘we support you and keep up the good work’,” Mr Mohamed said.
”About 10 per cent of phone calls have been really offensive, saying, ‘how dare you, go back to your own country, no one wants Muslims here’.”
The damage to the billboard would not affect his plans to display similar ads on buses travelling through the city and in the Hills district, and eventually, on television, he added.
The billboard’s slogan was designed to raise awareness that Islam believed in Jesus Christ, and encouraged Christians and Muslims to find common ground, he said.
Mr Mohamed plans to have the damaged billboard fixed today.
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