THE founder of a far-right group questioned West Mercia Police's decision to treat an Islamophobic poster as a 'hate crime'.

Tommy Robinson, formerly of the English Defence League (EDL), responded to the Worcester News story by venting his anger on Twitter.

We reported last Saturday on how posters linking Muslims with child grooming gangs were plastered across the city over the last few weeks.

Mr Robinson tweeted: 'How are these posters a hate crime?' alongside an angry emoji, on Saturday, September 2.

A group called the British Renaissance Policy Institute claimed responsibility for the posters, which said 'Fight Grooming Gangs' (in Arabic typography).

Jack Sen, founder of the BRPI, said the group had 25 members in Worcester.

He said: "I am pleased my men have taken the initiative to do something on their own."

Ethan French, a member of Hope not Hate, saw one of the posters in Tallow Hill, Worcester, while walking to work on Saturday, August 26.

Mr French, aged 41, said: "I can't say it was a big decision [to report it]. You see something's wrong and you report it.

"They are suggesting that all Muslims are child groomers, the fact that it was an Arabic style infers that.

"I was taken by surprise when I first saw it, I couldn't quite believe it. It was right by the mosque and Wyld's Lane, where the Muslims live.

"I popped into the police station when I finished work. I thought 'don't assume someone else will report it'. I think it's really important that you do stand up.

"By the time I went back home again it had gone."

Dr Shazad Amin, the CEO of Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), said: "Such posters are thus clearly intended to inflame tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Worcester.

"Although we would not have any issue with the subject matter of the poster, the fact it is intentionally written in a stylised Arabic font is clearly divisive.

"Robinson’s support for such actions simply demonstrate his continued agenda of demonising Muslims."

Dr Amin added that stirring up racial hatred is an offence under the Public Order Act 1986 and the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act.

He said Islamophobia impedes the progress of peaceful and tolerant British Muslims in society.

Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell Mama, an Islamophobia reporting campaign, said the posters were 'intimidating' to Arabs and Muslims.

He added that the fake Arabic symbols on the posters associated grooming gangs with these communities.

"The use of the British flag - which all communities celebrate - is appropriated into a ‘them and us’ narrative," he said.

"Rightly, someone has reported this material. It is devised bluntly on nationalistic and divisive lines.

"We need to challenge behaviours that affect the wellbeing of young girls and boys in our country.

"But this is not the way to help any community or segment of our population.”

Mr Robinson was unavailable for comment.

Inspector Tanya Beckett, of West Mercia Police, said police received a report of an offensive poster in Tallow Hill, Worcester, on Saturday, August 26 and were treating the incident as a hate crime.