Morning commuters were greeted with messages of love and acceptance at a northwest Calgary train station on Friday morning.
After hearing that Tuscany station had been blanketed with Islamophobic messages and death threats, a group of young Calgarians decided to cover them up with something more positive.
When the group arrived late Thursday night, the city was already hard at work cleaning the graffiti covering parked vehicles, station walls and a C-train car.
The group had hoped to put up posters to cover the graffiti, but were told they would need permission and that it was too late to get it. So, they returned the next morning with giant hearts and posters in the hopes of brightening someone's day.
"'Be KIND, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it BEAUTIFIES it. Whenever it is taken from something, it leaves it tarnished.' — Prophet Muhammed" read one of the posters.
"'We are kind, generous, open minded, optimistic and know in our hearts that a Canadian, is a Canadian, is a Canadian.' — Justin Trudeau" read another.
Bilal Sher, one member of the group, said commuters responded positively on Twitter to the messages, and added they were excited to see Mayor Naheed Nenshi had shared the story.
Sher provided The Huffington Post Alberta with a message for the people who vandalized Tuscany station:
I’d love to have tea with them and show them that I’m not the type of person they’re against. Everyone is against terrorism and the atrocities that are carried out by terrorists. I believe if the people who did this had more Muslim friends, they’d be able to understand that we’re all shoulder to shoulder on this issue. The feelings that motivate someone to do something like this come from fear and I think that the best way to get rid of that fear is to show them that we’re all here to do the same thing, to live a happy life!
Calgary police spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said an investigation is underway and will use their resources to bring the offenders to court.
With files from The Canadian Press
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