A man was arrested at a mosque in Peterborough after he verbally abused worshippers, while ranting about Islam being a “death cult”, “pedophiles”, and praising the notorious far right Islamophobe Tommy Robinson.
The vile incident occurred at Masjid Darassalaam on Alma Road on Friday 24 October, where police were called to the scene after a man wandered into the mosque and began harassing worshippers as they made ablution for prayers (wudu).
In the footage provided to 5Pillars, a man can be seen sitting next to a Muslim performing wudu, subjecting him to Islamophobic abuse – describing Islam as a “death cult”, insulting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and accusing Muslims of following a “pedophile”.
“You’re all liars. You follow a lying religion. It’s not a religion, it’s a death cult where you want to kill people,” the man was filmed saying.
The rant continued: “You f**k 9 year olds. You want to kill people!”
The man also made multiple references to the prominent far-right Islamophobe Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – during the exchange, and issued a chilling warning to the camera: “I will be back.”
In a second clip seen by 5Pillars, the man resisted arrested after a single female police officer arrived on the scene. Three Muslim men assisted the officer in restraining the Islamophobe.
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During the rant against worshippers and the arrest, the man was witnessed being abusive and threatening to both the officer and Muslim onlookers.
In a statement released by Peterborough police they confirmed the suspect remained in custody and pledged to increase police patrols in the area in the coming days:
“We were contacted this morning (24 October) about an incident where a man entered the mosque on Alma Road and was disorderly and abusive. A man was arrested and he remains in custody. At this stage we believe this is an isolated incident and not part of any organised activity. Nobody was injured and an investigation is ongoing.
“There will be an increased police presence near mosques in the city in the coming days as reassurance. We appreciate this incident may have caused concern, but we would emphasise again that we believe this was the isolated actions of one man. Please speak to our officers if you have any concerns.”
Far-right extremism
The chairman of the Joint Mosques Council, Abdul Muquaddas Choudhuri, told 5Pillars that although the community must remain cautious, local Muslim leadership will not allow an extremist far-right element to intimidate them.
“We are deeply concerned about what happened at the Dar Assalaam mosque. We have received reassurance from the chief constable and others have been in touch with me as chairman of Joint Mosques Council and pledged to increase the presence with additional patrols around the mosque.
“We are going to remain cautious and look into additional security measures. We have urged our local community members to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to the police immediately amid this difficult time.
“We are concerned but not frightened. We will continue as normal and our services will all run as normal. We will not allow this extremist element to frighten us and stop us conducting our duties. We will remain open and continue our services but urge local Muslims to remain cautious at all times. Islam is a religion of peace and we extend the hand of peace to all at this time.”
The incident comes amid an alarming rise of Islamophobic hate crimes across the UK.
Amid the hate epidemic, mosques and Islamic centres have been allocated access to an additional £10 million in security funding to protect them from hate crime and attacks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Thursday.
The additional £10 million funding means more sites can be protected and builds on the £29.4 million already available this year for mosques, Islamic centres, and Muslim faith schools.
