Signs warning people not to walk their dogs in an “Islamic area” are becoming more common in London and the UK.
The sign in question was seen in the London borough of Tower Hamlets in 2014. We’ve found no reports of the same or similar signs appearing recently, either in London or elsewhere in the UK.
A number of Facebook posts have shared a photo of a sign telling people not to walk their dogs in an “islamic area” [sic].
The sign, which appears to have been printed on a piece of paper and taped to another larger sign, reads: “Do not walk your dog here! Muslims do not like dogs. This is an islamic area now [sic].”
Several posts have shared the image with captions implying that it’s recent, with some stating: “These anti-dog flyers are becoming increasingly more common across London and the UK.” Another post says: “This is England 2025!!!”
However, the image in question is not recent—it dates back to 2014.
The sign was reportedly spotted in Bartlett Park in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
News reports at the time said police were investigating the sign. Then-local MP Jim Fitzpatrick said the origins of the sign were unclear, telling the Evening Standard: “The question is whether it was put up to be provocative or by religious zealots to be racist.
“It’s another facet of intolerance, or, because there’s no guarantee it was done by Islamists, it could be those in society who are trying to polarise and divide us.”
Some of the Facebook posts featured a screenshot of the same Evening Standard article, but with the 2014 publication date cropped out.
We’ve not seen any subsequent updates about this particular sign. A similar incident, of residents in parts of Greater Manchester receiving leaflets asking them to “limit the presence of dogs”, was reported in 2016, but we’ve found no credible reports of the same or similar signs having appeared in London or elsewhere in the UK recently.
Misleading information like this can spread quickly online—our toolkit provides tips for verifying whether an image shows what it’s being claimed to before you share it.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because this image dates back to 2014, and we’ve seen no reports of the same or similar signs appearing recently.
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