“They’re going to kill us, aren’t they?”

An innocent boy fears he will be killed after reading racist hate material. Welcome to suburban Melbourne.

Most kids are scared of the dark. Or the boogie monster.

This boy is scared of being killed because of his faith.

A mother was left to console her frightened four-year-old son after he found racist stickers on a playground in Melbourne’s north east earlier this week.

“His exact words when giving it to me: ‘They are going to kill us, aren’t they?’,” the mother posted along a picture of the offensive propaganda on Facebook.

Twelve ‘combat Islamic takeover’ stickers were plastered over play equipment at a Heidelberg West reserve, some featuring a skull and crossbones and others with a mid-Nazi salute.

An anti-Islam organisation called Combat 18 – a neo-Nazi hate group that originated in the UK – were purportedly behind the stickers, which asked people to ‘support your local skinheads’.

Similar material has been found at a mall in the suburb and a shopping centre in a nearby suburb, as well as at Monash University in Clayton.

“Clearly a broad area is being targeted by these lunatics,” the mother warned.

“It’s a real mix of middle class people and Muslims and migrants and some drug abusers and some rough stuff, but no one I know in this area has ever seen anti-Muslim stuff,” she told Fairfax Media.

“I think it’s as much a scare campaign as it is a recruitment tool.”

Another parent reported discovering the stickers at the same park on Monday and removing them, only to have them reappear on Tuesday.

Islamophobia Register founder Mariam Veiszadeh said it was “really disturbing” to discover the hate material “at a playground frequented by children from a variety of ethnically diverse backgrounds”.

“Islamophobia has devastating consequences for the entire community but its impact on children and young people, who are particularly vulnerable, is quite worrying,” Ms Veiszadeh told Fairfax.

“Such sentiments would no doubt impact their sense of identity and self-worth.

“We have recently heard about a few examples of alleged incidents of bullying and prejudiced statements being made against Muslim students in schools. It begs the question – what role do we adults play in fostering an environment in which bigotry and prejudice can flourish?”

It’s a shameful display by the neo-Nazi group, whose name is a tribute to Adolf Hitler – the “18” representing his initials, with A being the first and H the eighth letter of the alphabet.

No one should be subjected to a racist campaign and children should certainly not bear the brunt of it.