Threatening homophobic graffiti sparks manhunt

The graffiti on a building in Alexandria. Photo / AAP

Police are investigating after homophobic graffiti, calling for violence against gay people, was found on a wall in an inner Sydney suburb.

Witnesses Laura Hunter and April Long were travelling through Alexandria on Sunday morning when they saw an older man crouched and spray painting the wall.

The pair confronted the alleged painter and saw the message, which reads "Bash a gay today".

Ms Hunter photographed the message and the man as he pulled a hat down over his eyes and walked away.

The man said he had been "robbed by a gay man once", Ms Hunter told AAP on Sunday.

A NSW Police spokesman told AAP officers from Redfern command are investigating and called for anyone with more information to come forward.

Only 20 years ago. Hatred still exists and is evident even today with an old guy caught spraypainting ‘bash a gay’. Police remain too disinterested and courts too lenient. https://t.co/beRA9OHscZ

— Sibylla 🇦🇺🏳️‍🌈 (@Miss_Sibylla) October 7, 2018

"For people who think the plebiscite has solved everything in our country it has not," Ms Long woman wrote on Facebook as the images were widely shared.

The neighbouring suburbs of Erskineville and Newtown were home to murals of George Michael, Tony Abbott and Cardinal George Pell, which were slathered in black paint late last year following the legalisation of same-sex marriage.