RACIST grafitti was daubed on a pavement outside a school and on a nearby wall just days after the terrorist bombings.

But disgusted local residents banded together to paint over the slurs, which they believe were in response to last Thursday's atrocities in the centre of London.

The grafitti was outside Park Primary School in Matthew Park Avenue, Stratford, and on a wall of a home belonging to a Pakistani family on the corner of nearby Eleanor Road and Ham Park Road.

Police are investigating the vandalism, which was done overnight on Sunday.

Dad Simon Shaw, whose children go to Park Primary, told the Guardian he believed the grafitti was painted at night under the cover of darkness. The grafitti included Nazi swastikas, British National Party symbols and racist slogans too offensive to publish.

Mr Shaw said he believed the grafitti was in response to the London bombings and although Newham Council said it would clean it up within 24 hours, local people decided to do it themselves.

Around 50 people from all ethnic backgrounds and all ages worked together on Monday evening to paint over the grafitti.

Vandals painted racist words on the side of Osman Ikram's family home. He saw it at 6.30am as he was getting ready to go to work.

The 26-year-old, who works for the Refugee Housing Association, said: "I feel very upset about this.

"I have lived here with my family for about 20 years and this is the first time I have seen anything like this.

"Whoever did this are idiots. Nothing is going to be gained by doing revenge attacks.

"But I am very happy with the way the community has worked together. It is a harmonious community, very diverse, and we have shown we will stick together and we are not afraid of anything as long as we work together."

Mr Shaw said the school held a special assembly to help tackle the issue of the racist grafitti after pupils saw it when they came to school on Monday morning.