Police have launched an investigation after bacon was left at a mosque that sparked global outrage earlier this week for being in a former church.
CCTV footage released by police on Friday shows a man throwing bacon at a sign outside the building in Warragul, about 100km south-east of Melbourne, on Wednesday afternoon.
He then dumped more pork products outside the door, and returned to drape a rasher over the top of the sign. The mosque has been renting the building since January.
The incident came after a video filmed outside the mosque on Monday went viral and was picked up by overseas influencers, including popular X account RadioGenoa.
Historic church in Australia bought and made into a mosque. This is really unbearable. pic.twitter.com/m2WIxXCxTf
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) September 10, 2026
In the video an Australian asks a man wearing Muslim robes if the building is a mosque, and the man responds that it is, and that his group wants to buy the former church.
“There you have it people, churches are being sold up and purchased by Muslims here in Australia to be used as mosques,” the man behind the camera says.
“If you’re a Christian and this doesn’t infuriate you, here in Australia, you’d better wake up to yourself.”
Islamic Council of Victoria president Mohamed Mohideen labelled the incident a deliberate act of racial hatred, and denied Muslims were trying to take over churches.
The Victoria leader of far-left party The Greens also responded to the incident, called it a “vile, deliberate act of Islamophobic hate”, and blamed “far-right extremism”
“The Greens stand unequivocally with the Warragul Mosque and Muslim communities across Victoria. There can be absolutely no tolerance for Islamophobia, or any kind of racism in Victoria,” she said.
Header image: Left, the bacon on the mosque sign (supplied). Right, CCTV footage of the incident (Victoria Police).
