News / Crime
Arrest over bacon sandwiches thrown at mosque
One man has been arrested after bacon sandwiches were thrown at a mosque in an apparent hate crime.
The 34-year-old man is suspected of taking part in the attack with another woman shortly after midday on Sunday while prayers were taking place.
“Behaviour of this kind is totally unacceptable. Our communities have the right to live and worship peacefully without fear of being targeted for their race or religion,” said chief inspector Kevan Rowlands.
“We take all hate crime incidents extremely seriously and we are working closely with the mosque to ensure the offenders are held to account for their abhorrent actions.”
News of the attack circulated on Facebook on Sunday, with many people offering messages of support to the mosque.
Flowers and a card were left outside the mosque’s entrance on Monday morning and messages of support are also being directed to The Oxford, a nearby pub which is acting as a collection point.
A photo of bacon sandwiches at the foot of the entrance to the mosque were also posted on the Bristol United Patriots Facebook page on Sunday along with the message: “Someone hit Totterdown mosque with bacon sarnies. Don’t know who done it, but fair shout to them.”
Abdul Malik, chair of Easton Jamia Mosque, released a statement on Monday saying: “We stand with Totterdown’s local community and neigbourhood in unity at this time, this type of incident is very rare in our wonderful city and we do not feel that this is anything more than a group of opportunists who found a spot to take a photo which indeed reflects their character and offensive cause.
“This is an isolated incident and we hope the local neigbourhood will help the police in their enquires, which I’m sure are happening right now.
“This is also a request to all communities to look after and respect each other’s places of worship, keeping an extra eye out for such incidents and to make sure we report anything that we feel is not normal or we feel is offensive to the police, as soon as possible.
“We are proud of the unity in our great city and we will not let a few individuals fuel any hatred towards us or allow any individual or group break the bridges it has taken years to make between us! Ameen.”
I’m disgusted by cowardly attack on members of Jamia #Mosque today & stand with you to show #Bristol does not tolerate such vile behaviour.
— George Ferguson (@GeorgeFergusonx) January 17, 2016