‘Terrified’ imam rapped in Southport mosque for hours throughout riots
A ‘terrified’ imam who was trapped in a Southport mosque as it came under attack during violent riots has admitted that he feared the thugs would ‘burn the place down’ with him inside.
Ibrahim Hussein said he is at a loss as to why people shouting abuse and throwing missiles had targeted Southport mosque and that he had feared rioters would at one point break in and set the Muslim place of worship on fire.
Crowds of violent thugs – many of whom are thought to have come from outside Southport – launched bricks, torched a police van and left 53 officers injured during the riots.
It came barely an hour after thousands of mourners had gathered for a vigil to remember the victims of the knife rampage which claimed the lives of three young girls – Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds in the bloodbath. Five are in a critical condition, alongside two women who were also critically injured as they bravely tried to save the children.
A 17-year-old boy, originally from Cardiff but living in nearby Banks, remains in custody on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. False speculation online that he was an asylum seeker who had travelled to the UK on a boat appeared to fuel the riots.
Mr Hussein said the experience, in which he and around eight other people were trapped inside the mosque, had been ‘terrifying’. ‘It was absolutely, awful, horrendous,’ he told reporters on Wednesday.
Mr Hussein (pictured looking at damage in the mosque) said the experience, in which he and around eight other people were trapped inside the mosque, had been ‘terrifying’
Imam Sheik Ibrahim Hussein speaks to media outside Southport Islamic Centre Mosque on Sussex Road in Southport
Southport locals and builders rallied together to start rebuilding the Mosque wall on Wednesday
Southport locals have condemned the violence, saying ‘leave our town’. It’s believed many rioters came from outside of Southport
Mr Hussein, who only escaped at midnight with a police guard, added: ‘We couldn’t understand this viciousness that was going on, and even the police were taking a hammering from this lot.’
Asked if he thought the far-right had hijacked his town, Mr Hussein said: ‘Naturally. This is a beautiful town. We’ve lived here 30 years, no bother at all. We love this community. The community loves us. We don’t have any issues.’
He thanked police for their efforts, saying they ‘took a very bad beating’.
He said: ‘I would like to thank them for their support because at one point we thought they (the rioters) were coming in and they were going to burn the place down.’
He said he understood why the 17-year-old suspect in the killings has not been named, but it ‘would have been helpful if they (the police) had said that he is not Muslim’.
He added: ‘Not that it makes a big difference because, even if he is a Muslim, why should that reflect on the whole community?’
Soyful Alam, a former imam at the mosque, said people ‘have a right to be angry’ after the devastating attack on young children.
He told the PA news agency: ‘Everybody – the whole nation – is shocked by what happened (on Monday).
‘People are upset, and at the same time they are angry because incidents of this nature keep happening.’
But he said no matter what the background of someone who commits a crime, the community they come from or are associated with should not be targeted.
He added: ‘People need to be told that a crime is a crime and a criminal is a criminal.
‘Whoever (that person may be), he or she is responsible for a crime and to go targeting people who may be of the same colour or may be from the same region in the world isn’t justified, it isn’t a humane way of going about things.’
The mosque was open on Wednesday, with Mr Hussein saying he will ‘pray for the whole of Southport’, including the victims of Monday’s attack, the police and the wider community ‘to stay as beautiful as it has always been’.
Speaking about the response from locals, many of whom took flowers to the mosque and organised repairs, he said it had been ‘humbling’.
As a major clean-up operation took place following last night’s riots, Southport locals flocked to the scene to help repair a damaged wall outside the local mosque.
Brave police officers, whose colleagues were injured during the riots, also stood guard at the mosque today.
It comes amid fears that more demonstrations could take place following the fatal stabbing of three girls.
Riot police hold back protesters near a burning police vehicle after disorder broke out in Southport
Builders offered their services for free to rebuild walls demolished after thugs threw rubble at police vehicles and others took to social media to praise brave officers
Damage to the Southport Islamic Society Mosque after rioters congregated around the sacred building
Serena Kennedy, Merseyside Chief Constable, said today she understood the communities in Southport were ‘really worried’ about ‘are we going to see this again tonight’.
She said: ‘We are absolutely planning for this evening and for the weekend ahead.
‘We are being really well supported by police forces across the North West to make sure we have got sufficient resources so that we don’t see a repeat of last night.’
Asked about the resources deployed on Tuesday, Ms Kennedy said: ‘We were well prepared and had sufficient resources. However, the people who turned up last night were bolstered very quickly and it very quickly escalated and we did have to call on mutual aid.’
Some 53 officers – 49 from Merseyside and four from Lancashire – were hurt in the ‘sustained and vicious attack’ by rioters, including one female officer with a broken nose.
Four protesters were arrested.
Riot police vans were damaged amid the chaos near the Southport Mosque
A police van was set on fire near a mosque in Southport on Tuesday evening as riots broke out
The burnt out police van lies in the aftermath of the riots last night as as it sits charred in the middle of the road
Three girls were killed in a bloody rampage on Hart Street on Monday. On Tuesday, a vigil was held for the victims on Lord Street. While it was going on, a man with a flick knife was arrested on Eastbank Street. On St Luke’s Road, riots erupted outside a mosque – also on Tuesday
The coastal community united to bring order back to their quiet streets – on local Facebook groups some offered their rooms to people who needed a safe space, while others organised clean up crews to remove the carnage of the night before (pictured)
The streets of Southport were left devastated by the riots – with the streets piled high with rubble and chaos
Local crews worked hard in the early morning to rid the streets of rubble as they brought in machinery
Workers remove debris from the scene after a night of disorder in Southport
Iman Atta, director of the Tell Mama organisation which monitors Islamophobia in the UK, said her organisation had ‘received messages from Muslim communities, including visibly Muslim women, worried about the current climate’.
She said Tell Mama had ‘worked tirelessly’ on Tuesday to try to identify ‘various far-right agitators online spreading misinformation’ and had reported some ‘extremist racist and harmful materials to the police’.
A man carries a huge slab of concrete as he works to clear the Southport streets for the community
Young men sweep the road and clear rubble from Southport as they work to clear the aftermath of last night’s thugs
A baby seat can be seen in the back seat of a car whose windows have been smashed through outside the mosque in Southport
Damaged clothing bins on Sussex Road in Southport, Merseyside appear to have burn marks
Volunteers sweep Sussex road as they pile rubbish off the streets and clean up
She added: ‘We must not lose our sense of mutuality and support for each other by those who seek to divide us, especially by those with large platforms online and more mainstream traction.
‘We must also work collectively in our politics, media and wider society to challenge and remove scapegoating and stigmatising narratives that collectively link refugees, migrants, Muslims and other minority communities to violence and crime.’
She added that she has been ‘heartened by members of the public standing up for Muslim communities locally, with offers of support to help clean up and who reject the racialised misinformation online’.
A Southport resident has started a GoFundMe raising nearly £1,000 to help ‘restore the safe space’ of Muslims.
Phoenix Lawson, 20, told the PA news agency: ‘It is the only mosque in Southport. It is the only place they can pray peacefully and it’s just been destroyed unfortunately.’
Volunteers clear debris on Sussex Road in Southport, Merseyside, after police officers suffered serious injuries
Youngsters join the crowd of locals clearing up Southport’s streets this morning after the riots
Evelyn Taylor, 7, clears-up outside the mosque in Southport, Merseyside, following last nights disorder in the town
Sebastian Taylor, 10, and Evelyn Taylor, 7, sweep up rubble outside the mosque as they aid the clean up efforts
Workers brought in machinery to clean away the chaos around the suburban Mosque
She added the stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club on Monday and the riots a day later has been a ‘big shock’ for the Southport community.
‘It’s scary. Everything is quiet in Southport nothing really goes on here. You don’t really care about nighttime or robberies but to have three murders and then massive riots to happen in space in two days is a big shock,’ she said.
‘I was informed that three panels of the window of the mosque was destroyed and smashed in, and also the brick wall outside was completely demolished.
‘It’s a very unsafe environment for a lot of Muslims now. Friday prayer is two days away and there’s been a massive raid outside the mosque. I don’t think they’re going to want to go there as of now.’
