Smethwick temple in Birmingham faces assault even as calm returns to Leicester

After nearly three weeks of hate incidents and violence that rocked Leicester, community leaders from the Muslim and Hindu groups issued a joint statement appealing for harmony.

Reading out the statement, one of the leaders said: “We, the family of Leicester, stand in front of you not only as Hindus and Muslims but as brothers and sisters” focusing on the fact that there is no space for extremist ideologies. He added that the two faiths have lived harmoniously in Leicester for over half a century.

#Watch: After attacking a Hindu temple in Leicester, radical mobs are now trying to attack the Durga Bhawan Hindu temple in Birmingham, climbing temple walls and raising slogans pic.twitter.com/Vs6S2b4LYx

— INDIA NARRATIVE (@india_narrative) September 21, 2022

 

Even as action by the Leicestershire Police brought the situation under control in Leicester with 47 arrests, mobs began surrounding a Hindu temple in Smethwick. Videos on social media showed a group of Muslim youth marching towards Durga Bhawan Hindu Centre in Smethwick, about six kms west of Birmingham. The police too reached the temple even as the crowd raised slogans of ‘Allahu Akbar’.

The mob threw bottles and crackers inside the temple in a bid to intimidate the temple officials. Some tried to enter the temple by scaling the boundary fence. They were protesting a cancelled-visit by Sadhvi Ritambhara. The latest aggravation has sparked fears of Leicester-like violence taking place in Birmingham, the third-largest city in the UK after London and Manchester.

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