ANTI-ISLAM leaflets hand-delivered to homes in Belfast are being investigated by police.
The PSNI said they are working to establish who was behind the material posted through letterboxes in the Ravenhill area.
The leaflets, believed to have been distributed on Monday, are from a group calling itself 'Generation Sparta' and urge readers to resist what it claims is 'Islam-isation'.
It calls for Catholics and Protestants to unite against "a common threat from fanatical Islamists" and claims "Protestants and Catholics bled for this land, not Islamists".
Targeting an area containing a significant number of immigrant families, it also singles out Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party for supporting immigration.
One woman who received the leaflet described the material as "insane and terrifying".
PSNI Chief Inspector David Moore said they are "treating this as a hate incident at present and we are making a number of enquiries".
Wasif Naeem from the Belfast Islamic Centre said those responsible were "a tiny minority of people, sitting at home printing these things off, trying to create a sense of panic in the community".
DUP South Belfast MP Emma Little-Pengelly and assembly member Christopher Stalford condemned those behind the leaflets.
Mr Stalford said: "I was reared in Carrington Street at the bottom of the Ravenhill Road.
"The group calling itself 'Generation Sparta' putting-hate filled literature through people’s doors in the Ravenhill area do not speak for the people who live there.
"I condemn this utterly."
UUP councillor Chris McGimpsey also said the "behaviour is completely unwanted and does not reflect the people of the lower Ravenhill Road area".
"This is a community in which people live in harmony with their neighbours, and there is simply no excuse for anyone to come in and seek to create division or stoke up tension," he said.
"Whoever is behind this leaflet needs to stop what they are doing, back off and leave the community in peace."
Sinn Féin MLA Mairtín Ó Muilleoir said: "A leaflet circulating across parts of our city is targeting our Muslim citizens for racial hatred.
"It also targets Sinn Féin for our commitment towards a diverse, inclusive and pluralist society.
"Those racist elements behind this anti-Muslim and fascist propaganda intend only to stoke fear, hatred and division amongst the people of our shared city.
"Sinn Féin unequivocally condemns hatred of this kind."
Green Party MLA Clare Bailey also said those "behind this disturbing leaflet are intent on stirring up hatred in this community and it is the last thing that residents want".
"These leaflets, apparently distributed in the daytime, are an attempt to frighten and intimidate families who have every right to live their lives in peace," she said.
