Circus performers shocked by racist graffiti as they perform in Chorley

The boss of a circus performing in Chorley has slammed a vandal who scribbled racist slurs in a toilet block as ‘ignorant and uneducated’.

The graffiti was written in permanent marker on the walls of the gents toilets at Circus Mondao’s site on Carboot Field, Millennium Way and was discovered when the facilities were cleaned this morning (Thursday).

The circus is currently halfway through an 11-day series of performances and will be on the site until Sunday.

Ringmistress Petra Jackson said the circus had performed throughout Lancashire for decades and were regular visitors to Chorley.

She said the incident had left her and many of the performers shocked and she had not experienced anything like in 20 years on the road.

“I was totally shocked by this. Whoever did it is ignorant and uneducated.” she said.

“We have performers from all over the world working with us, including from Kenya, Cuba, Romania and Brazil.

“All of them, without exception, are here legally and have each paid nearly £2,000 for the relevant visas to perform in this country.

“They are not here illegally and many of them have been left very shaken by this.

“The circus is somewhere where you go to escape from reality, somewhere where you can forgot all your troubles for a couple of hours. To drag hate into something which is inclusive to everyone is a real tragedy and has made us all very sad and angry.

“The whole idea of the travelling circus is to share different the things different cultures have to offer. Our performers come from all four corners of the world and all of them are working here legally.”

The toilet block, which is next to the circus’s box office was vandalised on Wednesday night, although it was not discovered until the following morning.

One one wall, scrawled in black permanent marker, the vandal wrote “Muslim cxxxx out”.

A graffiti ‘tag’ was also written on the toilet door.

Circus fans added their support to the performers on Circus Mondao’s Facebook page yesterday morning.

One posted: “Absolutely shocking behaviour. Nobody deserves this kind of hate. Nobody should become a target because of their race, gender, religion etc. We're all human, we all bleed the same. Sorry that this has happened.”

Another, who said she had grown up with a travelling circus, added: “I grew up in circus in 70 s and 80s and it was always a good eclectic mix of people.

“Sadly there is always a small minority that try to cause trouble. That's disgusting vandalism.”

Petra says it is the second time in the last few months that racism has affected her performers.

She said one of her performers from Kenya was racially abused when he was handing out circus leaflets in Anglesey, North Wales.

“His name was Dave and he was working for us, we all muck in with everything,” she said. “He was handing out flyers and this woman started racially abusing him and chasing him down the screaming at him.

“He’s a huge man, but he was terrified. It’s really worrying the way things are going at the moment. People should leave their politics and prejudices at the door when they come to see a circus.”

At the beginning of the circus’s performances in Chorley, a special show was held for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Circus Mondao leaves Chorley on Sunday to go to Great Harwood and, later Bolton.

Petra said: “We have performed all over the country, but particularly, in the north west of England and we have never had a problem like this.

“I hope it is just a one-off and this isn’t the shape of things to come.”