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Graffiti carrying a threat to lynch Tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) Leo Varadkar is being treated as a hate crime, police have confirmed.

The threat appeared on a shop wall at Drumart Square in the Belvoir estate, south Belfast, between Friday, 29 January, and Saturday, 30 January.

It was framed in large black writing on a white wall and warned Mr Varadkar not to "set foot in Ulster".

South Belfast MP Claire Hanna described the words as "vile".

In a post on social media, the SDLP MP said Belvoir residents were "nauseated by words seemingly borrowed from the Ku Klux Klan".

"Actions like this will persist until we treat backward elements as the societal threats they are. Words on walls and words from politicians have consequences - time for leadership and calm," she said in a tweet.

Mr Varadkar was born in the Republic of Ireland to an Indian father and an Irish mother.

Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said there was no place in society for such hatred.

"The appearance of threatening graffiti with racist undertones directed at An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in Belfast is disgusting," he said.

"It has now been removed but those responsible for this hate crime in the first place should be held to account.

"Anyone with information on those responsible should forward that to the PSNI."

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long described the words as "absolutely sick and offensive" with "clearly racist overtones" while Ulster Unionist councillor Michael Palmer said it was "disgusting graffiti" that is "not at all representative of the community".

The wall was painted over by the shop's staff by Saturday evening.